librarYqOf congress. ; 
/ 

Chap.V._._ Copyright No, 

Shelf__,_MS. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



BROTHER AZAR1AS' ESSAYS. 

ESSAYS EDUCATIONAL. 

With Preface by His EMINENCE, CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

" Cloistral Schools." 

" The Palatine School." 

"Mediaeval University Life." 

" Universi.y Colleges, Their Origin and Methods." 

" The Primary School in the Middle Ages." 

" The Simultaneous Method in Teaching." 

" Beginningsof the Normal School." 

"M Gabriel Compayre as an Historian of Pedagogy. 

ESSAYS PHILOSOPHICAL. 

With Preface by the Rt. Rev. John J. Keane. 

'Aristotle and the Christian Church." 
" The Nature and Synthetic Principle of Philosophy.' 
" Symbolism of the Cosmos." 
" Psychological Aspects of Education." 
" Ethical Aspects of the Papal Encyclical on Labor." 

ESSAYS MISCELLANEOUS. 

With Preface by the REV. BROTHER JUSTIN. 

" Literature, Us Nature and Influence." 

" Religion in Education." 

" The Sonnets and Plays of Shakespeare." 

" Culture of the Spiritual Sense." 

" Our Catholic School System." 

" Our Colleges." 

" Church and State." 

Cloth, Price Per Volume, $1.50. 



ESSAYS 



EDUCATIONAL 



BY 

BROTHER AZARIAS 

Of the Brothers of the Christian Schools 






WITH PREFACE BY 



His Eminence cardinal Gibbons 




^K 



CHICAGO 

D. H. MCBRIDE & CO. 

1896 






Copyright, 1S96, 

BY 

D. H. McBRIDE & CO. 




PREFACE 



^pPHIS new edition of the lectures of Brother 
^=^ Azarias, delivered at Plattsburg in July, 1893, 
is an interesting history of the growth and develop- 
ment of educational institutions under the guiding 
hand of the Church. 

Who that is acquainted with the writings of 
Brother Azarias need be assured of the treat in 
store for him in this volume? 

In classic style, with an ease and grace that 
spring from a thorough knowledge of his subject, 
he sketches with a master's hand the efforts of our 
forefathers in the attainment of learning and the 
methods they adopted to accomplish their laudable 
object. 

To many it will be a surprise to learn that the 
education of the young was a matter of great solici- 
tude to the bishops and priests of the so-called Dark 
Ages. 

Brother Azarias shows that primary schools were 
established and maintained, not by taxation, but by 
the self-denying efforts of teachers and the voluntary 
contributions of the people. 

This volume contains a fund of knowledge in 
detail. It manifests a large reading, a retentive 

(v) • 



vi PREFACE. 

memory and power of condensation, without, how- 
ever, the affectation of learning, the cumbersomeness 
of erudition, or the indistinctness of a too concise 
diction. 

The book would prove useful and interesting to 
the students and professors in our colleges, semina- 
ries and monasteries, and I hope it will meet the 
welcome it deserves. 



c^J 




CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Cloistral Schools 3 

The Palatine School 39 

Mediveval University Life 49 

University Colleges; Their Origln and Their 

Methods 105 

The Primary School in the Middle Ages .... 171 
The Simultaneous Method in Teaching .... 207 

Beginnings of the Normal School 243 

M. Gabriel Compayre as an Historian of Pedagogy 263 



(vii) 



CL0ISTRA12 SeH00l2S 



in 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 1 
I. 

¥E name this book only to call attention to the 
character of its statements. They are many 
of them wild and misleading, We are told, for 
instance, that the cause of deficiency in the civiliza- 
tion of the Chinese is to be found in the fact that 
their whole education was a system of memorizing. 
This is news indeed. But it is an assertion that is 
likely to go unchallenged. Few of Mr. Johonnot's 
readers interest themselves in the complex machinery 
of Chinese education. Then the author starts off 
with what he calls the monkish method of memoriz- 
ing. What that method was, he does not tell us; 
instead, he lays before us what he considers a tooth- 
some piece of information. 

Here is the sweet tid-bit on which our public- 
school teachers have been chewing for the past ten 
years : 

"The effort of the monkish teachers was as 
much directed to the exclusion of such knowledge 
as did not directly suggest their views and authority, 
as it was to promulgate that of the opposite kind. 
The school did little or nothing to banish ignorance 
from the people. Science was interdicted by the 

1 American Ecclesiastical Review. 

" Principles and Practice of Teaching" by James Johonnot. 
New York, D. Appleton & Co. 1881. 

(3) 



4 BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

Church as opposed to religion. ' For centuries,' 
says Hallam, 'to sum up the account of ignorance 
in a word, it was rare for a layman of whatever rank 
to know how to sign his name.' " 1 

It is indeed difficult to hold one's soul in peace 
under the provocation of such reckless writing. 
Does Mr. Johonnot know that Hallam's assertion 
has been thoroughly refuted by Maitland in his 
" Dark Ages " ? But it is clear that the light which 
Maitland has thrown upon this period has shone in 
vain for Mr. Johonnot. 

Now, we have not far to go to find an opposite 
teaching. Since Hallam wrote and Maitland wrote 
men are in a position to know better. They can 
make at the present day no more sweeping asser- 
tions concerning the Middle Ages than they can 
concerning the nineteenth century. We pick up 
the latest magazine that comes upon our desk, and 
we read : 

" If the fourteenth century village was less ill off 
than we are apt to imagine it in regard to the medi- 
cines of the body, it appears that the training of the 
mind was less absolutely non-existent in the rural 
class than it has been our habit to assert. Many of 
the laborers on the farms of Bonis could sign their 
names, though probably their science in writing 
ended there. But every tenant farmer in an age 
when the accounts of tenant and landlord were 
peculiarly complicated, was obliged to know a 
certain amount of bookkeeping; doubtless the 
steward was often more learned than his lord. 
Hedge-schools were common ; in every consider- 
able village, if not in every hamlet, there was a 

1 "Principles and Practice of Teaching," p. 17b. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 5 

school-master, appointed generally by the patron of 
the village-living." x 

This is history; this is truth. It is the outcome 
ot painstaking research. But we dare say, the myth 
of Hallam's rare layman who could sign his name 
will continue to pass down upon the tide of preju- 
dice until Macaulay's forthcoming New Zealander 
shall label it in some future museum with his sketch 
of the ruins of St. Paul's. But in the meantime we 
ask ourselves in all earnestness: How comes it that 
we find disseminated among our public-school teach- 
ers, as knowledge, as clear-cut information, statements 
so reeking with ignorance and prejudice and bigotry? 
Why is it that the intelligence, of this respectable 
body must be insulted by such gross, unhistorical as- 
sertions? Surely, of all men, should educators be 
familiar with the latest and most accurate word in 
history, in literature, or in science. 

Note how Mr. Johonnot groups all mediaeval edu- 
cation under the one heading " monkish," and then 
brushes it away with a single sweep of his pen. Has 
it occurred to him — does he know — the number and 
variety of schools that existed in the early and middle 
ages? There were rural schools; there were episco- 
pal schools ; there were cathedral schools ; there were 
grammar schools ; there were cloistral schools ; there 
were the early seminaries, the colleges, the palace 
school, and the university. Thus do we find the 
monastic school only one out of many. However, 



1 The Fortnightly Review, December, 1890. Art., Rural 
Life in France in the 14th Century, by A. Mary F. Robin- 
son (Madame James F. Darmstetter). 



6 ESSAl'S EBUCA TI UNA L . 

since the author unwittingly called attention to the 
education given by the monks, it may be of interest 
to examine the methods followed and the education 
imparted in the cloistral schools. 

II. 

Cloistral schools begin with the establishment of 
monastic institutions. We find them flourishing un- 
der Pachomius at Tabenna in the first half of the 
fourth century. The doors of his monastery were 
open to children as well as to men. Lessons were 
given three times a day to those whose education was 
deficient. All were required to be familiar with the 
Psalter and the New Testament. Each house con- 
tained its own library. Three times a week did a 
brother, set apart for the purpose, explain at length 
the truths and mysteries of Faith. Catechumens 
were also instructed at stated times. The rules en- 
ter into such details as give us insight into the edu- 
cational methods of the East. Should the aspirant 
to religious life not know how to read he shall be 
sent to a brother appointed to teach, and standing 
before him, he shall learn with all thankfulness. Af- 
terwards he shall learn to write letters, syllables, 
words and names, and he shall be compelled to read 
whether he will or no. None shall be permitted to 
remain in the monastery who has not learned to read 
and who does not know some of the Scriptures — at 
the very least the Book of Psalms and the New Tes- 
tament. 1 



1 " Regula S. Pachomii," cap. 139, 140. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 7 

As on the banks of the Nile, so was it in the mon- 
astery at Bethlehem. 1 And in the latter half of the 
fourth century, St. Basil organized similar schools in 
Caesarea. So great was the reputation of this saint 
as an educator that the magistrates of the town urged 
him to direct their public school ; and when he de- 
clined, the people assembled in a body and besought 
him to comply with their request. But Basil had 
another field of labor, into which he threw all his en- 
ergies. 3 In the fifth century, Lerins under St. Hon- 
oratus became a nursery of learning and piety. There 
St. Eucherius had his two sons educated, the oldest 
being scarcely ten years when, in 410, he entered. 3 
There St. Loup kindled the torch that he afterwards 
brought to Troyes. In the monastery of Our Lady, 
outside the walls of this city, he established a school 
that became famous. In like manner does the chiv- 
alric and large-hearted St. Martin of Tours establish 
schools near Poitiers, and at Marmoutier, near Tours. 

Then, at the beginning of the sixth century, we 
come upon a celebrated school of nuns at Aries, un- 
der the guidance of St. Cesaire. Their rules require 
that they be instructed, and that they devote not less 
than two hours daily to reading. 4 There are no less 
than two hundred of them, and they become re- 
nowned for the beautiful workmanship they produce 
in copying manuscripts both sacred and profane. 6 



1 Mabillon, "Etudes Monastiques," Paris, 1691, p. 11. 

2 Fleury, " Hist. Eccles.," ill., liv. xiv., p. 545. 

3 " Lerins au V e Siecle," par Abbe Goux. 

4 " Regula S. Caesarii," xvii.,Ed. Migne, t. 67. col. 1109. 

5 " Vita S. Caesarii," cap. v. 44. 



8 E S S 1 ITS ED U CA Tl ON A L . 

From the sixth to the eighth century these cloistral 
schools flourished. But the one who organized them, 
as he did all monastic life in the west, was St. Ben- 
edict. 

We will not enter upon an account of his life. 
It is too well known. Suffice it to say here that to 
St. Benedict the civilized world owes a debt of grati- 
tude of which it can never be quit. He established 
a rule that was for his day and generation a marvel 
of wisdom. In this rule, manual labor seems to 
predominate ; but a glance at the temper and spirit 
of the times will show how thoughtful this great 
man was in giving out-door occupation to strong 
natures but ill-suited to pore over books. As time 
wore on, and men grew more civilized, and the desire 
for mental culture became more general, the monks 
were found equal to the emergency; and so their 
influence spread from clime to clime, till all lovers of 
learning hold them as blessed in memory as they 
are blessed in name. 

True it is that the rules of St. Benedict say 
comparatively little about study, but it were false 
reasoning to conclude therefrom that all study was 
proscribed. Within the limitations of the strictest 
rules there is always freedom of action on many 
unnamed things according to times and places. And 
when Benedict recommends his brothers to write in 
a style brief, simple, and modest, 1 he presupposes 
that those brothers pursued preliminary studies. 
And so they did in fact. During his own lifetime 
Bened ict took the young sons of the Roman nobility 

1 Rule, chap. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 9 

and educated them. These children were trained 
up to their fifteenth year with the youths whose 
parents had consecrated them to the service of God. 
Then they made choice either to remain and enter 
the novitiate or to withdraw into the world. Already, 
in the fifth century, we see the effects of this 
religious grounding upon men living in the world. 

Thus Sidonius, singing the praises of Vectius, a 
distinguished military officer, says: 

" He reads frequently in the Holy Scriptures, 
especially at his meals, thus partaking at the same 
time of food of the soul and food of the body. He 
often recites the Psalms, still oftener sings them." ' 

Later, Eginhardt, the biographer of Charlemagne, 
tells us that that great monarch had some one to 
read to him during his meals ; among the subjects 
mentioned are ancient history and the works of St. 
Augustine, especially that saint's masterpiece, " The 
City of God." 

Herein is a new ideal of greatness already estab- 
lished. St. Chrysostom, noting the great benefit of 
this religious education, thus exhorts parents : 

" Do not withdraw your children from the desert 
before the time. Let the principles of holy discipline 
be impressed upon their minds, and virtue take root 
in their hearts. Should it take ten or even twenty 
years to complete their education in the monasteries, 
be not troubled on that account. The longer they 
are exercised in this gymnasium, the more strength 
they shall acquire. Better still, let there be no fixed 
time, and let their culture have no other term than 
the ripening of the fruits thereof." 2 

1 See Fauriel, " Histoire de Gaule Meridionelle," i., p. 404. 
2 " Adv. Persecut. Monach." lib. iii., cap. 16. 



10 ESSA2"S EDUCATIONAL. 

This is a remarkable passage, showing the pre- 
vailing custom of the East and also the extensive 
course of education that must have been given in 
those monasteries. Indeed, Pope Syricius is so im- 
pressed with the order and discipline of the cloistral 
schools, that he strongly recommends priests to be 
ordained from candidates chosen almost exclusively 
from the monasteries. 1 

III. 

To understand the rule of Benedict and the writ- 
ings of the early Fathers as regards literary culture, 
we must remember that the training of the intellect, 
as well as the training of the hand, were not for their 
own sake. They were simply means to an end. It 
was the disciplining and the developing of the whole 
man towards something higher. It was the growth 
of soul towards perfection. All else was made subor- 
dinate to this aim. He who enters upon this course 
must be a willing candidate. "According as one 
advances in the way of piety and faith, the heart 
expanding and becoming more generous, one runs 
in the way of the commandments of the Lord by a 
sentiment of love and an ineffable meekness." * 

Therefore, manual labor is not ordained for its 
own sake ; it is simply laid down as an antidote to 
laziness, and seemingly as a means by which the 
intellect becomes freshened for study. Thus we are 
told that, laziness being the enemy of souls, the 



1 "Syr. Pap. Ep. i. ad Himerium Tarracon "., Hardouin, 
P- 857- 

2 Preface of St. Benedict to Rules. 



CL CIS 7 A\ IL SCHOOLS. 11 

brothers shall give certain times to manual labor, 
and certain other times to the reading of holy things. 
They shall labor from the first hour of the day to 
the fourth, and from the fourth till nearly the sixth 
they shall devote to the reading of holy things. 
Ignorance is not only a shame, it is very injurious 
for religious men. We should not be degenerate 
children of those Fathers of the Church so illustrious 
in every species of doctrine. 

But discipline and a method simple and easy for 
all are indispensable in order to acquire science. If 
anybody is desirous to read in particular, he may do 
so, provided he incommodes nobody. In winter, 
having risen from the table, the brothers shall devote 
the remaining time to reading or learning the Psalms. 
At the beginning of Lent a book shall be given to 
each brother, that he may read it from beginning to 
end. The whole of Sundays shall be passed in read- 
ing, except by those having offices and particular 
occupations. A brother shall be appointed to see 
that the time assigned for reading and study is so 
employed, and not otherwise. 1 Even casual visitors 
to the monastery must not leave without having the 
bread of life broken to them. And so, one of the 
points observed in receiving visitors is that a 
brother shall sit before them and shall first read 
some passage from Holy Writ, and he shall after- 
ward receive them with all possible graciousness. 2 
A beautiful custom this, sowing the seeds of many 
a rich harvest. 



1 Rules, chap. 48. 

2 Ibid., chap. 53. 



1 2 BSSA 2 'S EDUCA Tl ONAL. 

Such was the intellectual side of the rule of St. 
Benedict. Dom Morel, commenting upon it, says: 

" The reading that St. Benedict gives us as a fruit- 
ful remedy against laziness, comprises also study ; and 
of both reading and study, as of manual labor, we 
should say that they must needs be of such a nature 
as to belong to our state, otherwise they would not 
guard us against idleness or loss of time." ' 

It was in this spirit that Benedict insisted that 
the brothers should not lose time upon mere works 
of the imagination. He considered sufficient time 
spent on them during the period of preparatory study. 
Hence the solid character of the work done by those 
men from Cassiodorus down to Dom Gueranger and 
Cardinal Pitra. Peter the Venerable has clearly and 
beautifully expressed the Benedictine spirit of study 
and writing in the following words: 

" We cannot always plant or water ; we must some- 
times abandon the plow for the pen, and instead of 
working fields we must turn up the pages of holy 
letters. Scatter upon paper the seeds of the word 
of God, which in harvest time, that is, when your 
books are finished, shall nourish your famished read- 
ers by the abundance of its fruits, and with celestial 
bread shall banish the immortal hunger of their souls. 
Thus will you become a silent preacher of the holy 
word ; while your lips shall be mute, from your hand 
shall resound a powerful voice among many people, 
and after your death the merit of your works shall 
be all the greater before God in proportion as their 
life shall be the more durable." 2 



1 " Meditations sur le Regie de S. Benoit." Paris, 1752, 
p. 512. 

2 "Acta Ordin. S. Bened." Saec. v., pref. observ. x. An- 
tiquar. labor. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 13 

With the advance of civilization the Benedictine 
studies broadened, and Benedictine labors in the lit- 
erary field grew apace. Grammar, rhetoric, and phi- 
losophy had their respective places in the program 
of the advanced student. His profane readings he 
learned to sanctify by prayer and mortification and 
the practice of obedience. In this lay the secret of 
the strength and great influence of the Benedictines. 
It is with permissible pride that the erudite and in- 
defatigable Mabillon could write: 

"Almost alone, the order of St. Benedict, for 
several centuries, maintained and preserved letters 
in Europe. There were no other masters in our 
monasteries, and frequently the cathedral schools 
drew theirs from the same source. It is only to- 
wards the end of the tenth and beginning of the 
eleventh century that secular clerics begin to teach." * 

The masters were carefully chosen. Benedict laid 
stress upon three qualifications to be considered in 
electing a dean; namely, "his person, his wisdom, 
and his doctrine ;" 2 and commentators agree that the 
word " doctrine " here includes learning. In the Rule 
as it was in vogue one hundred years after Benedict's 
day we read : "At hours appointed for reading the 
young religious shall be instructed by a skilful mas- 
ter." 3 We are told that St. Ferreol dispensed the 
abbot from all manual labor, that he might have 
time to study whatever he should teach his re- 
ligious. 4 It was his duty to see that the master 



1 " Etudes Monastiqnes,'' p. 135. 

2 Rules, chap. 20. 

3 Mabillon "Etudes Monastiques," p. iS. 
* Chap. 50. 



14 BSSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

was equal to his position. He should devote three 
hours a day to the school of the professed brothers. 
He decided what studies each should pursue, accord- 
ing to respective talent, taste, and inclination. 

Those teaching in the classes, or pursuing special 
studies and researches, were exempt from manual 
labor and the night-offices; but they rose for their 
devotions at four in the morning. If it is noticed 
that a teacher is brutal or incompetent, he is to be 
removed at once and replaced by another of mature 
age, who shall be distinguished for his experience, 
and shall have given proof of certain meekness of 
character. From the master let us turn to the 
schools. 

IV. 

The primary aim of the monastic school was to 
prepare candidates for the recruitment of the relig- 
ious life. This it was that gave tone and color to 
studies and discipline. This was the uppermost idea 
with St. Basil when he was drafting the rules and 
regulations of these schools. In fact, he puts the 
question: 

"Should there be a master to instruct secular chil- 
dren ?" 

And he answers that under certain conditions sec- 
ular children may be admitted. 

"The Apostle has said : 'And you, fathers, provoke 
not your children to anger, but bring them up in the 
discipline and correction of the Lord. ' If parents 
bringing their children here do so in this spirit, and 
if those receiving the children so offered can rear 
them in the discipline and correction of the Lord, 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 15 

let us observe the precept contained in these 
words: 'Suffer little children to come unto me, 
for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.' But be- 
yond this end and this hope I deem that it would 
not be agreeable to God, or convenient for us, or 
really useful." ' 

Basil received orphans into his schools, and also 
children from the hands of their parents before wit- 
nesses. He must have received girls as well as boys, 
for the great doctor lays stress on their being kept 
apart. 

Benedict ordained a solemn ceremony to accom- 
pany the offering of a child to the service of God. 
The child's hand, together with the offering accom- 
panying the child and the written promise in which 
the parents testified that they freely, of their own 
accord, without coercion of any kind, devoted this 
child to the service of God as a religious, were all tied 
together in the altar-cloth or veil. 2 The abbot or 
one deputed by him received the child as a sacred 
trust, to guard and protect against all evil and to 
bring up in the fear and love of God. But, as has 
already been seen, besides children so consecrated to 
religious life, and the orphans of which St. Basil 
speaks, there were children placed within the shadow 
of the sanctuary to shield them from temptation and 
confirm them in religious discipline and a knowledge 
of their religion ; these might afterwards honorably 
return to the world. In this way were St. Maurus and 
St. Placidius brought up by St. Benedict from their 



1 " RegulrcBrevius Tractatae," Interrog. ccxcii. 

2 Rules, chap. 59. 



16 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

youth with many other children of the first families 
of Rome. 1 

These children had a rule of their own. They 
had their hours for study and play, for rising and 
retiring ; they sang in the choir and became gradually 
accustomed to the discipline of religious life. Bene- 
dict devotes a chapter to the manner in which old 
men and children should be treated. The brethren 
are commanded to have due regard for their feeble- 
ness. They must not observe rigorous fasts, and 
must eat more frequently. But we can best learn 
the spirit and scope of monastic schools from their 
great organizer, the large-minded Basil. 

Boys are admitted when five or six years old. 
They should be kept apart from the older members 
of the community, by whom they should always be 
edified; "for," he adds, " he who is intellectually a 
boy is not to be distinguished from him who is a 
boy in years." 2 He would have their playgrounds 
so situated that in taking exercise and recreation 
they could not disturb the older members of the 
community. Their diet should be substantial and 
suited to their age and strength. For the daily 
prayers they were permitted to join the ancients; 
but they were exempt from the night-offices. 

Basil felt that the touchstone of all education is 
the formation of character. On this point he enters 
into details as minute as they are instructive. Does 
the boy quarrel with his companions? Let him be 



1 Mabillon, "Etudes Monastique," p. 65. 

2 " Regular Fusius Tractatse," Interrog. xv. Patrol, Migne, 
31, col. 952. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 17 

punished properly, and let both then make up. Does 
he eat or drink out of time? Let him fast the 
greater portion of the day. Has he lied, or uttered 
words of pride or vanity, or violated the rules 
seriously ? Let him be chastised by abstention from 
food and by silence — et ventre et silentio castigetur. 
Has he been eating immoderately or been otherwise 
unruly at meals? Let him be removed from the 
table, and notice how the others eat with all the 
politeness prescribed by the rule. A boy is angry 
with a companion. Let him apologize to that com- 
panion, and even wait upon him for some time, 
according to the gravity of the fault ; " for the 
continuance of this state of humiliation stifles the 
last spark of anger in the soul, while, on the con- 
trary, a state of superiority disposes the soul for 
this vice." The faults of the child should always be 
corrected with paternal indulgence and with mod- 
erate language, and the mode of punishment should 
be according to the measure of the delinquency. 
Basil did not permit every master to administer pun- 
ishment indiscriminately. There was one set apart 
for that duty, and for all serious faults the child was 
brought to him. This whole system of discipline 
tended to self-control. 1 

His rules for study are no less admirable. Indeed, 
his conception of the youthful intellect is such as 
would unqualifiedly approve itself to any modern 
educator. The key to all success lies in controlling 
the power of attention in the child. In order to 
repress wandering of the mind, he would have all 

1 Ibid. xv. 2. 
E. E.— 2 



18 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

the child's time filled with one occupation or another. 
And he counsels .the master to ask the boys from 
time to time where their minds are, and of what they 
are thinking. He likens the mind of the child to 
soft wax, which may easily be moulded. It must be 
a constant study of the master to preserve the pupil's 
mental elasticity. With this view the master should 
question frequently and give rewards for composi- 
tions and exercises in memory, " in order that they 
may give themselves to study as a recreation of the 
mind, without fear and without repugnance." 

The subjects studied were at first the elements of 
grammar and rhetoric. At an early age the children 
were made familiar with Scriptural words and phrases. 
Instead of poetic fables of pagan times, they were 
taught "to narrate the admirable facts of sacred his- 
tory and the sentences of the Book of Proverbs." 
In these early days, when the lines were sharply 
drawn between Pagan and Christian, that upon which 
greatest stress was laid was the religious training of 
the child. All else was subservient. The public 
schools of ancient Greece and Rome were disappear- 
ing before the light of Christianity ; parents sought 
a more moral atmosphere for their children, and, 
knocking at the door of the monasteries, they be- 
sought for them the refuge and the religious training 
that could only be found in those asylums of prayer 
and study. 

What parents desired, and the sentiment with 
which the Church responded to their desire, may be 
best expressed in the charge of a bishop of Metz to 
those ecclesiastics having the care of children : 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. [0, 

" Let these children reared or instructed in con- 
gregations be so well guarded by ecclesiastical disci- 
pline that their fragile age, inclined to sin, may not 
find an outlet for a single fault. Let a brother of 
irreproachable conduct be given them to watch over 
them and to instruct them in the spiritual sense of 
the Scriptures. Let them all be assembled in the 
same hall, under the authority of a master of age and 
experience, capable of giving them advanced lessons 
and good example ; or, in case he does not teach, let 
him be in position to hold supervision over them." ' 

Jonas, a bishop of Orleans, writes a treatise for 
the laity, which the Benedictine D'Achery calls a 
" golden book." It is a practical treatise on the use 
of the sacraments, on the mutual duties of husband 
and wife, of parents and children, and on such spir- 
itual topics as death, judgment, and the like. A 
chapter is devoted to the instruction of children ; 
but the only point on which the good bishop lays 
stress is that from their tenderest years children be 
taught the necessary truths of their religion. 2 

But we must not imagine for a moment that Cat- 
echism was at any time the sole subject taught in the 
cloistral schools. The grammar of those days, for 
instance, covered a wider field than the mere techni- 
calities now attached to the name. However, we 
find that St. Basil anticipated modern times in an- 
other respect. Much is spoken and written at pres- 
ent concerning manual training and the formation of 
trades-schools. Now, it so happens that, as a matter 

1 " Spicilegium " Acherii, t. i., p. 574. 

2 " Spicilegium", pp. 258-323. Jonae Aurelianensis Epis- 
copi Libri tres de Institutione Laicali. Jonas lived in the reign 
of Charles the Bald. 



20 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

of course, and as something essential, without which 
education would be incomplete and monastic life 
would experience a want, Basil regulated for a cer- 
tain number of trades to be learned and practised. 
Children should begin to learn some one or other as 
soon as they are able. Among those recommended 
are : weaving and tailoring within certain limitations ; 
architecture, wood-work and brass-work, and above 
all, agriculture. 1 Surely, the school training of 
skilled hands in all these trades is not to be de- 
spised. 

But even though the regulations are silent, we 
can elsewhere find indications that the teaching im- 
parted in cloistral schools was both thorough and 
practical. The student of old books bearing upon 
history and literature — and what printed volume 
does not tell an interesting story to him who has the 
secret of reaching the heart of a book? — is familiar 
with the book of formulas prepared towards the end 
of the seventh century by the Monk Marculf, by 
command of Landi, Bishop of Paris. It contains 
royal charts and formulas of wills, deeds, transfers, 
and the like, such as it behooves a practical business 
man to be familiar with. Now, Marculf is careful 
to tell us that he wrote these formulas not for the 
learned, but with a view " of exercising children who 
are beginners." "I have done," he adds, "as best I 
could with simplicity and clearness, in order that 
good will may profit of it." 

In the seventh century Irish monks overran the 
Continent, introducing a taste for Greek and mathe- 

1 " Reguloe Brevius Tractatae," Interrog. xxxviii. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 21 

matics, and initiating the young brothers into their 
beautiful style of copying and illustrating manu- 
scripts. Moengall brings Irish studies, Irish methods 
and Irish enthusiasm to the cloistral schools of St. 
Gall's, and under his direction discussions in gram- 
mar and philosophy were carried on with a degree 
of subtlety that would have rejoiced Dante's own 
master in the rue de Fouarre. 

The course of study in the monastery of St. 
Hilary of Poitiers extended over seven years. From 
the lips of St. Achard we learn something of the 
working of a cloistral school in his day. He was 
blessed with a master " of such great doctrine and 
sanctity, that in living with him one had no thought 
but for wisdom, no action but for justice." Old 
and young were assembled in the same room. At 
the beginning, the child was not compelled to learn. 
He was placed on the front bench, where he listened 
to the older pupils reciting their lessons. When 
Achard's teacher, Ansfrid, asked him what he was 
most desirous of learning, the boy replied : " First, 
the things pertaining to God; afterwards, I shall 
learn the elementary branches of study." * During 
the first two years the youth learned only such 
things as were calculated to open and quicken the 
intelligence. The master exercised all his ingenuity 
in giving an elevated and spiritual turn to the most 
trivial things. The next five years were devoted to 
the usual courses of trivium and quadrivium. The 



1 " De rebus ruralibus," — what is taught in the rural schools. 
This is the construction Cardinal Pitra gives to these words. 
" Vie de S. Leger." 



22 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

principles of Canon Law were included in the course 
at Poitiers. 1 

The method was practically the same in the 
schools attached to all the Benedictine monasteries. 
The daily routine of school life followed by Ecg- 
berht, brother of the King of Northumbria and 
Bishop of York, has been handed down to us. No 
doubt it was that pursued by his old master, Beda. 
The traditions of Jarrow were transferred to York. 

" He rose at daybreak," we are told, " and when 
not prevented by more important occupations, 
sitting on his couch, he taught his pupils successively 
till noon. He then retired to his chapel and cele- 
brated mass. At the time of dinner, he repaired to 
the common hall, where he ate sparingly, though he 
was careful that the meat should be of the best kind. 
During dinner an instructive book was always read. 
Till the evening, he amused himself with hearing 
his scholars discuss literary subjects. Then he re- 
peated with them the service of Complin, after 
which each knelt before him and received his bless- 
ing. The students afterwards retired to rest." 2 

Among the pupils so taught was Alcuin. He has 
left us an account of his studies pursued under the 
learned Albert. He says: 

"The learned Albert gave drink to thirsty minds 
at the fountain of the sciences. To some he com- 
municated the art and the rules of grammar; for 
others he caused floods of rhetoric to flow; he knew 
how to exercise these in the battles of jurisprudence, 
and those in the songs of Adonia ; some learned from 
him to pipe Castalian airs and with lyric foot to strike 
the summit of Parnassus; to others he made known 

1 Ozanam, "Etudes Gcrmaniques," ii., p. 541. 

2 " Vita Alcuini," p. 141. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 23 

the harmony of the heavens, the courses of the sun 
and the moon, the five zones of the pole, the seven 
planets, the laws of the course of the stars, the mo- 
tions of the sea, earthquakes, the nature of men, and 
of beasts, and of birds, and of all that inhabit the 
forest. He unfolded the different qualities and com- 
binations of numbers; he taught how to calculate 
with certainty the solemn return of Easter-tide, and 
above all, he explained the mysteries of the Holy 
Scriptures." ' 

This course Alcuin afterwards carried out when 
organizing the educational system of Gaul. He made 
all human knowledge a basis on which to build up 
Holy Writ. 

"Despise not human sciences," wrote he, "but 
make of them a foundation ; so teach children gram- 
mar and the doctrines of philosophy, that, ascend- 
ing the steps of wisdom, they may reach the summit, 
which is evangelical perfection, and while advancing 
in years they may also increase the treasures of 
wisdom." 2 

And in another place he speaks of improving the 
memory by "exercise in learning, practice in writing, 
constant energy in thinking, and the avoidance of 
drunkenness, which is the bane of all serious study 
and destroys alike the health of the body and the 
freshness of the mind." 3 In the course of studies 



1 De Pontiff. Eborac, 1431-1447. 

2 Ep. 221. 

3 "Alcuini Opera Omnia," p. 1346. Ed. Duchesne, Paris, 
1617. There is a fragment of this dialogue between Charle- 
magne and Alcuin in the Vatican Library (Codex Vat. Lat. 
4162), very old and well-thumbed. I have transcribed portions 
of it containing variations from the printed copy. It might 
have been part of the very copy that Alcuin had presented to 
Charles. The fragment is bound up with other fragments, the 
first beginning with an explanation of the Athanasian Creed. 



24 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

mapped out by Charlemagne for the episcopal and 
monastic schools of his dominion are mentioned read- 
ing, the study of the Psalter, arithmetic, plain-chant, 
and writing; and he further ordains that there be 
placed in the hands of the pupils correct and ap- 
proved Catholic books. One of Alcuin's chief merits 
was that he made strenuous efforts to procure cor- 
rect copies of the various text-books required, and 
especially of the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptorium 
which he established and supervised at Tours became 
world-renowned for the accurate and elegant work 
done in it. 

When he retired from court to the monastery, he 
organized and directed the studies, and he thus de- 
scribes the labor of love in which he was engaged : 

" I apply myself in serving out to some of my 
pupils in this house of St. Martin's the honey of Holy 
Writ ; I essay to intoxicate others with the old wine 
of ancient studies; one class I nourish with the deli- 
cate fruits of grammatical science; in the eyes of an- 
other I display the order of the stars." ' 

Alcuin's own works are a good criterion of the in- 
tellectual level of his day. They comprise treatises 
on theology, lives of saints, a book on the liberal arts, 
works on rhetoric, logic, grammar, orthography, arith- 
metic, and a hand-book of school-method. a 

An examination of the lives of saints from the 
fifth to the twelfth century reveals to us the fact 
that in the cloistral schools youths were taught read- 
ing, writing, arithmetic, grammar, logic, the principles 
of versification, liturgic chant, the Old and the New 

1 Ep. xxxviii. 

2 See Duchesne's edition of 1617, or the Migne edition. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 25 

Testament, theology, sometimes canon law, and later 
on Aristotle. There was a difference of opinion as 
to the extent to which the ancient classic authors 
should be cultivated. Some, like Alcuin, following 
in the footsteps of St. Jerome, taught the ancient 
classics extensively enough ; others, like St. Owen, 
declared against their introduction beyond what was 
barely requisite to illustrate grammatical rules. 

" Even though the teachings of the Church," says 
the saint, " should have at their disposal the charm 
of profane eloquence, they should fly from it, for the 
Church should speak, not to lazy philosophic sects, 
but to the whole human race. Of what use are gram- 
marians' disputations, which seem more suitable to 
throw down than to build up?" 1 

But his reasoning will not hold. Certainly Charle- 
magne did not agree therewith. He would see every 
priest and every monk use classic and graceful lan- 
guage, so that all who would hear them, charmed 
with the science that their reading and singing would 
reveal, might leave rejoicing and thanking God. 2 
Banish all profane learning, and you banish the tools 
and implements with which to cultivate religious 
learning. Thereafter it will not be long before the 
broad joke of Rabelais becomes a literal truth : 

" Je n'etudie point de ma part," says Frere Jean. 
" En notre abbaye, nous n'etudions jamais, de peur 



1 " Vita S. Eligii," Prologus. Migne Patrol, t. 87, p. 439. 
See Ozanam, '• Etudes Germaniques," pp. 458 sqq. Ozanam 
thinks the saint was denouncing the quibbling methods of the 
Toulouse school of grammarians. But unless the whole is a 
mere flourish of rhetoric, the saint would also condemn to obliv- 
ion all classic authors. 

2 " Capitularies." 



26 ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

des auripeaux. 1 Notre feu abbe disoit que c'est 
chose monstrueuse voir un moine scavant." 2 

But the cloister school had its hours for play and 
rest as well as its hours for study. Having examined 
the methods and the matter taught, let us look at 
the students in their amusements. Now it so hap- 
pens that we have ready at hand a picture of a cele- 
brated cloistral school in the tenth century. The 
picture is skillfully drawn, and brings home to us 
very clearly that those were other days than ours, and 
they had other manners and customs, that cannot be 
judged by our standards. But it brings the period 
so much nearer to us that I shall not curtail an es- 
sential detail. 

We are in the celebrated monastery of Saint 
Gall's. It is the year 992. Don't be frightened by 
that noise, those shouts of joy that you hear. It is 
the feast of the Holy Innocents, and the scholars are 
celebrating the anniversary of a visit made by the 
Emperor Conrad in 913. The monarch had on that 
occasion instituted three days holiday for the younger 
students. The door of the recreation hall opens ; a 
prelate appears ; it is the Abbot Solomon, who has 
recently been made bishop. Immediately the more 
roguish boys put their heads together and concoct a 
plan ; for there exists a custom that the students can 
lay hands on every stranger coming to the school, 
and keep him prisoner till he redeems himself. It is 
this custom that the boldest among them wish at pres- 
ent to put into execution. But a difficulty exists. 

1 Ear-aches. 

2 "Gargantua," liv. i., chap, xxxix, 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 27 

The prelate is also the abbot of the monastery, and as 
abbot he believes himself above molestation. But 
he has been reckoning without the logic of the young 
dialectitians. " Let us capture the bishop," say they, 
"and leave the lord abbot." He yields to their hu- 
mor. They take him and place him in the profes- 
sor's chair — in magistri solium. 

The bishop submitted, and addressing the boys, 
said : " Since I take the place of your master I have 
the right to use his privileges ; take off your jackets, 
to be punished." The pupils were amazed, but they 
obeyed at once, asking, however, that they be per- 
mitted to redeem themselves as they were wont to 
do with their professor. " How is that ?" asked the 
good abbot. Thereupon, the little ones began to 
speak to him in Latin as well as they could ; the me- 
dium ones addressed him in rhythmic language, and 
the most advanced in verse. Each class defended it- 
self as best it could and so pleased the new bishop. 
" What evil have we done to you," says the middle 
class ; " that you should harm us ? We appeal to the 
king, for we have acted only within our right." 1 The 
versifiers by the mouth of their poet said : "We did 
not dream of being punished, since you are a new 
visitor." 2 The abbot then rose, rejoicing to find 
that studies which had always flourished at Saint 
Gall's were still held in honor, and embraced and 
kissed every child as he was in his shirt — omnes, ita 



1 Quid tibi fecimus tale ut nobis facias male : 
Appellamus regem, quia nostram fecimus legem. 

2 Non nobis pia spes fuerat cum sis novus hospes, 
Ut vetus in pejus transvertere tute velis jus. 



28 ESSA2"S EDUCATIONAL. 

ut erant in lincis, exsurgens amplexatus et osculatus 
— and said : "While I live I shall redeem myself, and 
shall reward such assiduity." He added that he had 
the chief brothers to assemble before the door, and 
he decreed that in future all the scholars and their 
successors should have meat on the holidays insti- 
tuted by the emperor, and that they be served dur- 
ing these days with dishes and wine from the abbot's 
own cellar. The chronicle adds that the custom 
continued to be faithfully observed long afterwards. 1 

V. 

Monastic schools varied in number and in effi- 
ciency with different countries and with different 
epochs. They flourished greatly from the sixth to 
the ninth century. This educational period has 
been characterized as the Benedictine period. The 
Benedictine monks controlled all the schools. The 
smaller monasteries confined themselves to elemen- 
tary instruction; the larger ones, in addition, taught 
the higher branches. The Council of Aix-la-Chapelle 
decreed in 817 that those youths aspiring to the 
religious life — oblati — should be taught in a school 
apart from those who were to return to their homes. 
But both schools had the same lessons and frequently 
the same teachers. 2 In the eighth century Charle- 
magne gave a new impetus to learning. But wars 
and dissensions soon undid the good work. 



1 Eckehardus Jun. : "De Casibus Monasterii S. Galli 
Ed. Goldast. t. i.,p. 21. 

2 " Histoire Litteraire de France," t. i\ ., p. 231. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 29 

Already, in 830, the Deacon Florus bewails the 
decline of learning. 

" Formerly," he says, " we saw but one prince 
and one people; law and the magistrate ruled every 
town. . . . Throughout, youths learned the Holy 
Volume ; the hearts of children expanded beneath 
the influence of letters and arts. . . . Now is all 
the boon of peace destroyed by cruel hates." 1 

Not that efforts had not been made both by 
Louis the Pious and Charles the Bold to encourage 
schools. The latter, especially, surrounded himself 
with learned men, and we are told that he was wont 
to exhort the abbots to consecrate all their efforts 
to the education of children, and he loved to see the 
brothers give gratuitous instruction, with the view 
"to please God and St. Martin." 3 These efforts 
were of slight avail. 

The ninth century set in darkness. The tenth 
opened up an era of warfare and bloodshed and rav- 
agings, and on the ruins began the building up of a 
new order of things. It is the beginning of the epoch 
of feudalism. During the two following centuries 
there was much ignorance. Here and there, away 
from the scenes of warfare and depredation, the lamp 
was kept lighted, and monks labored in silence at 
the work of writing chronicles and preserving and 
copying manuscripts. But they are the exception. 
Synod and Council of that period, especially in France, 
bewail the darkness. The Council of Troslei, held in 
909, in all sadness speaks of Christians who lived to 

1 " Carmina de Divisione Imperil," i. Ed. Migne, t. 119, 
col. 257. 

2 De Chevriers, p. 82. 



30 ESSA2'S EDUCATIONAL. 

old age ignorant of their creed and not knowing the 
Lord's Prayer. It also tells of abbots, who, when 
asked to read, scarcely knowing a word in their abe- 
cediary, might reply, "Nescio literas." x We are else- 
where told of a prelate who gave no time to study, 
and who only knew how to count the letters of the 
alphabet on his fingers; in other words, who had the 
merest rudiments of knowledge. 3 In Italy letters 
flourished more extensively. Pope Eugenius II. in 
826 confirmed the laws of Charlemagne and Louis, 
and gave a new impetus to the study of letters in 
this classic land. 3 Ratherius, bishop of Verona — he 
was consecrated bishop in 931 — speaks of three or- 
ders of schools from which priests may be ordained. 
He tells us that he will ordain no young man who 
will not have studied letters either in the episcopal 
schools, or in some monastery, or under some learned 
master. 4 In Spain, also, during this long night, there 
were flourishing schools, and science was advancing. 
Gerbert (d. 1003) studies under the guidance of 
his uncle at Vich, and brings back so many new edu- 
cational improvements that he is regarded by the 
ignorant as a dangerous man. He introduced an 
abacus that simplified greatly the science of arith- 
metic. He made important discoveries in astron- 



1 Bibliotheque de Cluny, p. 150. 

2 Et studiis quern nee constrinxerit una dierum ; 
Alphabetum sapiat, digito tantum numerare. 

" Adalberonis Carmen ad Robertum Regem 
Francorum," v. 49, 50. 

3 See Tiraboschi " Storia della Lett. Ital.," t. vii., lib. iii., 
cap. xvii., xxiii. 

*"Synodica ad Presbyteros," § 13. Migne, t. 136, col. 564. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 31 

omy, and explained the heavens and the earth by 
means of globes. He simplified the science of music, 
"so that," remarks Odo of Cluny, "children could 
learn in three or four days an office that it formerly 
took experienced singers years to master." 

Fulbert (d. 1028) was another light who had many 
brilliant disciples. "Ah!" exclaims Adelmann, "with 
what moral dignity, and solidity of thought, and 
charm of language he explained to us the secrets 
of a profound science." 

Lanfranc (1005-1089) carried to Bee the learning 
of Italy. The torch that he kindled illumined 
France. His school was thronged with youths from 
all parts of Europe. He taught without fee ; such 
offerings as were made went to the building up of 
the monastery. Before he became known in England 
as a great statesman and the counsellor of William 
the Conqueror, he had won the esteem of thousands 
whose studies he directed. On occasion of his visit 
to Rome, Pope Alexander II. rose to meet him, 
saying : " I show this mark of deference to Lanfranc, 
not because he is archbishop, but because I had sat 
under him with his other disciples in the school of 
Bee." 1 And the indefatigable Ordericus Vitalis can- 
not find words in which to express his eulogy of 
this great light : 

" Forced from the quiet of the cloister by his 
sense of obedience, he became a master in whose 
teaching a whole library of philosophy and divinity 
was displayed. He was a powerful expositor of 
difficult questions in both sciences. It was under 



See William of Malmesbury, " Antiq. Libr.," p. 324. 



32 ESSAYS EDUCATIONAL. 

this master that the Normans received the first rudi- 
ments of literature, and from the school of Bee 
proceeded so many philosophers of distinguished 
attainments, both in divine and secular learning. 
. . . His reputation for learning spread through- 
out all Europe, and many hastened to receive lessons 
from him out of France, Gascony, Brittany, and 
Flanders. To understand the admirable genius and 
erudition of Lanfranc, one ought to be a Herodian 
in Grammar, an Aristotle in dialectics, a Tully in 
rhetoric, an Augustine and Jerome and other ex- 
positors of the law and grace in Sacred Scriptures." ' 

And of Anselm (1034-1109) the successor of 
Lanfranc — his successor in the school and successor 
in the see of Canterbury — the same author is no less 
eulogistic: 

" Learned men of eminence," he says, " both 
clergy and laity, resorted to hear the sweet words of 
truth that flowed from his mouth, pleasing to the 
seekers of righteousness as angels' discourses, . . . 
all his words were valuable and edified his attached 
hearers. His attentive pupils committed to writing 
his letters and typical discourses ; so that, being 
deeply imbued with them, they profited others as 
well as themselves to no small degree." 2 

Nor was this learning confined to the priors. The 
same trustworthy witness bears testimony to the 
general culture of the monks of Bee : 

" The monks of Bee," he says, "are thus become 
so devoted to literary pursuits, and so exercised in 
raising and solving difficult questions of divinity, and 
in profitable discussions, that they seem to be almost 
all philosophers ; and those among them who appear 



1 "Hist. Eccl.," lib. iv., cap. vii. 

2 Ibid., cap. xi. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 33 

to be illiterate, and might be called clowns, derive 
from their intercourse with the rest the advantage 
of becoming fluent grammarians." ' 

From this great seat of learning went forth monks 
into all parts of France and England, to light up the 
dark ways. 

But the simple enumeration of all the cloistral 
schools that history mentions in the darkest period 
would take hours. Among others, there was the 
school of St. Benedict on the Loire, which was fre- 
quented by more than five thousand pupils, each one 
of whom upon withdrawing was required to present 
the monastery with two manuscripts. 2 There was 
the monastery of Hildesheim. Under Bernward its 
school became famous. Bernward himself was one 
of the most remarkable men of his day. His activity 
seemed to know no other limit than his power of 
endurance. He was always questioning, or writing, 
or engaged in manual labor ; never idle. He was 
skilled in the mechanic arts. An expert joiner and 
blacksmith, and a good architect, he taught these 
things to the students of the seminary himself. He 
also copied and illuminated manuscripts. 3 

Meinwerk, a disciple of Bernward, established a 
celebrated school at Osnabruck. Idamus {d. 1066) 
inherited his genius, piety and learning, and con- 
tinued to make the school famous. The course of 
studies was extensive, and the discipline severe. 
Even parents were forbidden to visit the students, 



1 Ibid., cap. xi. 

2 Chateaubriand, "Etudes Historiques," t. iii., p. 144. 

3 " Vita S. Bernwardi," § 2, 3, Mabillon, p. 181. 
K. E.— 3 



34 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

lest they might distract them in their studies. 1 In- 
deed, throughout all the mediaeval schools the disci- 
pline was severe. The birch was considered indis- 
pensable as a medium of instruction. The younger 
pupils were subject to the closest vigilance day and 
night. Withal, the students were treated with a 
paternal care and tenderness that was not unfre- 
quently pathetic. 

With the twelfth century dawned a new era. 
There is an upward movement of the people. The 
Crusades help to break down the barrier of caste. 
There is a general fermentation of thought. Schools 
become secularized. Men run hither and thither, 
devoured by a thirst for knowledge that no known 
source seems sufficient to satiate. The period of 
scholasticism has set in. Men, in their eagerness to 
dispute, break down the barriers dividing the diverse 
subject-matters they should teach. Under pretence 
of teaching grammar they are found to be indoc- 
trinating their pupils in some philosophical subtlety. 
These are the men whom Hugh of St. Victor's criti- 
cises as indulging in a perverse custom: "When 
grammar is their subject, they discuss the nature of 
syllogisms; when treating of dialectics they will oc- 
cupy themselves with the inflection of words." 1 

St Victor's was one of the great centers of learn- 
ing in the twelfth century. William of Champeaux 
brought thither some of the fires of Bee, and Anselm 
of Laon took thence that bright flame that attracted 



1 Theiner, " Histoire des Institutions d'Education Ecclesi- 
astiques," p. 173. 

2 " Eruditionis Didascalica?," lib. iii., cap. vi. 



CLOISTRAL SCHOOLS. 35 

even the genius of an Abelard. The master-hand of 
Hugh has sketched for us a beautiful picture of stu- 
dent life in this monastery. It is too valuable to 
leave unquoted : 

" Great is the multitude and various are the ages 
that I behold — boys, youths, young men, and old 
men. Various also are the studies. Some exercise 
their uncultured tongues in pronouncing our letters 
and in producing sounds that are new. Others learn 
by listening at first to the inflections of words, their 
composition and derivation ; afterwards they repeat 
them to one another, and by repetition engrave 
them on their memory. Others work upon tablets 
covered with wax. Others trace upon membranes 
with a skilled hand diverse figures in diverse colors. 
Others, with a more ardent zeal, seem occupied with 
the most serious studies. They dispute among 
themselves, and each endeavors by a thousand plots 
and artifices to ensnare the other. I see some who 
are making computations. Others with instruments 
clearly trace the course and position of stars and the 
movement of the heavens. Others treat of the 
nature of plants, the constitution of man, and the 
quality and virtue of all things." J 

This represents the kind of work that has been 
done for centuries in the larger cloistral schools. 
Hugh's account is almost literally that which we 
have seen Alcuin give of his own school-days. But 
as the cloistral school led to the decline of the 
episcopal school, and in a great measure superseded 
it, even so did the university lead to the decline of 
the cloistral school. 



1 "De Vanitate Mundi," lib. i., D. col. 707, t. iii., Migne 
Ed. — Cf. John of Salisbury, "Metalog." lib. ii., cap. x. 



THE PALATINE SCHOOL 



(37) 



THE PALATINE SCHOOL. 

^HE palatine school is of earlier origin than the 
^' day of Charlemagne. There was a palace school 
in the Merovingian court in which the children of 
the king and the chiefs were educated. 

"From the time of the first race of our kings," 
says Crevier, "we find traces of a school held in their 
palace where noble youths were instructed in what- 
ever letters and knowledge their positions required." 
("Hist, de l'Universite de Paris," t. i., p. 26). 

It was an ancient German custom, mentioned by 
Tacitus ("Germania," xiii.), to have the sons of the 
various subordinate chiefs recommended at the court 
of the ruler and brought up with the sons of the 
king. They were presented and adopted with cere- 
mony. The custom became the source of feudal 
power. These youths attached themselves to their 
chief and followed him with unswerving loyalty to 
battle, to exile, to victory, even to death. 

Christianity stepped in, and here, as elsewhere, 
sanctified the custom. As we have found the school 
attached to the church and the cloister, even so do 
we find the palace school become identified with the 
royal chapel. Indeed, the school is called the chapel, 
and the chapel gets its name from the capella of St. 
Martin of Tours. 

The first chaplain was Aptonius, who lived under 
Clovis (481-5 11), and who may be regarded as the 

(39) 



40 ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

father of the palatine chapel. (" Gallia Christiana," t. 
ii., col. 979). Henceforth this school becomes the 
centre whence radiates the light of learning in France. 
The light does not always shine with equal brilliancy. 
Fifty years elapse before we come across another emi- 
nent chaplain, Mererius, or Mercarius. (Ibid., ocl. 974.) 

The names of the great men who Christianized 
France — all of whom came forth from that palace 
school — would fill a volume. We mention St. 
Remy, who baptized Clovis ; Waast and Deo- 
datus, his chatechists ; Gormer of Toulouse, who 
learned all the Scriptures in three years ; Cesarius 
of Acles, the learned monk of Lerins, who taught 
his people how to sing hymns in church in Greek. 

The sons of Clovis continued the good work. 
Under Theodoric, the master, was Saint Gall, grand- 
uncle of Gregory of Tours, who charmed Theodoric 
by his singing, to such an extent that Theodoric 
could not be separated from him. 

Under the fostering care of Childebert and the 
pious Ultrogotha and her sister, Swegotha, the 
school flourished. Childebert is known as the first 
Merovingian king who was familiar with the Latin. 
Fortunatus calls him " the priest-king, the crowned 
cleric ; another, Melchisedech, victor of peace, glory 
and rule of pontiffs." This prince gathered learned 
men from Rome and Constantinople, from England 
and Ireland. Symposiums were held in the gardens 
of the court. There those two Bretons, Hermel 
and Hervanion, sang daily, and their sweet voices 
made them favorites with the king. Hervanion, or 
the little Herve, was learned in many languages, a 



THE PALATINE SCHOOL. \\ 

perfect musician, and composed several ballads and 
poems. There the young shepherd, Patrocles, dis- 
played his wonderful gifts — Patrocles, who, unknown 
to his parents, attended the schools, and became 
such a prodigy of learning that Mummion intro- 
duced him to the palatine school. There was the 
laureate of the court, Venantius Fortunatus, who 
lifts the veil and permits us to see the school life 
beneath the clouds of those stormy days. 

Gregory of Tours finds learning in decay. But 
from the time of Clotaire the palace school can be 
clearly traced. Among the abbots of the palace and 
the camp ; among the chaplains and the arch-chap- 
lains, we can discern the school in which St. Leger 
and his disciples lived and labored. 

There was Betharius of Chartres, — a noble Ro- 
man, who after having been nourished in the schools 
established by Boethius and Cassidorus became dis- 
tinguished as an eminent teacher — and Clotaire II. 
following the advice of Queen Fredegunde named him 
arch-chaplain of the royal chapel — which position al- 
so made him head of the school. (" Acta T. Betharii," 
Boll. Aug. 2.) He was succeeded by Rusticus, who 
had acquired in the Roman schools the purest and 
best traditions of Christian education. Rusticus 
modeled the school more after the monastic form. 
His school became a seminary whence emanated 
venerable bishops and saints to govern the church of 
France. 

Rusticus was succeeded by Sulpitius whose influ- 
ence upon the youths of the palace was far-reaching. 
Their lives were passed in the most rigid austerity. 



42 ESS A TS EDUCATIONAL. 

Beneath their rich garments they wore hair shirts, and 
many of the brightest became clerics or religious — 
callings, which, up to that time had been considered 
beneath the profession of arms. You may remember 
the exclamation of St. Clothilde in regard to her 
grand-children : " I would rather see them dead than 
tonsured !" 

I. What were the studies pursued ? There were 
grammar, dialectics, rhetoric ; there were the more 
special studies of Roman law, national customs and 
traditions, models of Gallo-Roman eloquence and 
even of the vernacular Gallo-Frankish idiom. The ver- 
nacular tongues were already attracting attention and 
we find the rhetoricians distinguishing between the ar- 
tificialness of Greek, the circumspect measure of Lat- 
in, the splendors of the Gallic tongue, and the pomp of 
the English. (Don Pitra, " Vie de S. Leger," pp. 32, 
33.) History occupied a large place in the course. 
Under this head was included a study of the great 
national epics. (" Vita S. Wandsegisiti," No. 2, S. ii., 
13th ed.) Christian dogma and Christian philosophy 
also found their place. It was the school of superior 
studies — where privileged youths finished after 
private studies at home and in the schools of the 
grammarians — whither they resorted from all parts 
of Gaul. 

Remember that at the period of which we now 
treat there was no hereditary nobility ; honors were 
distributed according to merit, and the youth who 
passed through his course with most satisfaction and 
had submitted to the rigid discipline of the school 
was most likely to be honored by the king. 



THE PALATINE SCHOOL. 43 

We can easily conceive the great educational in- 
fluence of this school upon the fierce Germanic 
nature. It reconciled him to the study of letters ; 
it gave him a taste for the arts of peace ; he became 
more polished. 

Under the long and brilliant reigns of Clotaire 
and Dagobert, Merovingian royalty becomes Byzan- 
tine in its splendor and style. The etiquette of the 
old courts is introduced. Religious ceremonies are 
carried out with all possible pomp. Especially mag- 
nificent was the celebration of Easter in one or an- 
other of the one hundred and fifty Merovingian 
towns to which the court migrated yearly. (Naudet, 
" Memoires de lTnstitut.," t. viii., p. 404.) 

The palatine school had an obscure beginning in 
the sixth century, grew to be great under Clotaire 
II., then declined under the management of Varim- 
bert, who busied himself in quarreling with the monks 
of St. Medard in Soissons ; grew into significance 
under the illustrious S. Ouen, Bishop of Rouen, who 
saw three generations pass under his hands. 

Then came Leodegar, or Leger, called to court 
of Queen Bathilde. Under his management and 
counsels the school became once more thoroughly 
organized. It flourished under Pepin the Short, and 
we read of Abelard, cousin of Charlemagne, that he 
was educated with the pupils of the palace in all 
human science, and heard the same lessons with the 
emperor. (Leon Maitre : " Les Ecoles Episcopales 
et Monastiques " 1, p. 35.) 

Then came the school of Charlemagne. Here 
we must distinguish. Mention is made of an Acad- 



44 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

emy in which nearly all his court took part — as- 
sumed name: Toulouse. This was not the palatine 
school. That school was distinct, and contained 
not only the youths as found in the earlier schools, 
but others who were preparing for holy orders. 
Thus, the chronicler of San Gall tells how Charles 
upon returning from an expedition, had all the 
pupils whom he confided to Clement of Ireland 
brought before him and classified according to their 
proficiency and diligence, cautioning the sons of the 
nobility that unless they studied as well as the 
poorer youths, they need expect but scant favors at 
his hands. (D. Bouquet, t. v., p. 107. Mon. Sang. 
Chron. 1. i.) 

It has been questioned whether the palace school 
was permanent, or whether it accompanied the court 
from place to place. I am of opinion that the 
school went wherever the court settled. The chap- 
lain was also the custodian of the sacred relics that 
were an inseparable portion of the royal equipage. 
When Archbishop Augilran was made arch-chaplain, 
he was dispensed from diocesan residence by Pope 
Adrian, which is additional evidence that the school 
traveled with Charlemagne. Alcuin also complained 
of his frequent journeyings when he had charge of 
the school. 

Under Charlemagne, the order in which the 
teachers instructed was somewhat as follows : 

I. ALCUIN. — He was the great light of the 
school under Charlemagne. He brought with him 
the best literary traditions of England, as handed 
down from the venerable Bede through Egbert of 



THE PALATINE SCHOOL. 45 

York. He was possessed of the best and ripest 
scholarship of his day. At court he not only organ- 
ized schools, but he aided Charlemagne in his wise 
legislation. Retiring to the monastery of Tours in 
his old age, he there established a scriptorium that 
became famous for the neatness and accuracy of the 
work it sent out. You will find a fair account of 
Alcuin's pedagogical work in the monograph of 
Prof. West. In recommending the book, I feel it 
my duty to call your attention to both its merits 
and its defects. His scriptorium — vellum, purple 
gold-quaritch. 

2. Clement of Ireland. — Alcuin found fault 
with his theories and his methods. Even then race 
prejudice asserted itself. Theodolfe, Bishop of 
Orleans, was also opposed to him. 

3. CLAUDIUS, afterwards Bishop of Turin. 

4. Aldric, who was a disciple of Alcuin in 
Tours, and pupil of Sigulf, and afterwards Archbishop 
of Sens. 

5. Amalarius Symphonius, also a disciple of 
Alcuin, and raised to the archiepiscopal see of 
Lyons. 

Under Charles the Bold, the palace school became 
distinguished about the year 842. An ancient writer 
thus bears witness to its excellence : " His court be- 
came a palaestra for all departments of learning. 
And so, all the leading men in the kingdom sent 
thither their children to be formed in human and 
divine science. (See Crevier, "Hist, de l'Univ. de 
Paris," t. i., p. 42.) At the head of the school 
was John Scotus Erigena, the translator of the 



46 ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

pseudo Dyonysian writings and whom Roger Bacon 
praised as a clear-headed commentator of Aristotle. 
His doctrines were regarded as tainted, and Du Bou- 
lay quotes a letter purporting to come from Pope 
Nicholas I. asking Charles not to allow Erigena to 
remain at the head of the school in Paris, lest, the 
bad grain mingling with the good grain, all should be 
spoiled. ("Hist. Univ. Par.," t. i., p. 184). However, 
let me add, the authenticity of this letter has been 
doubted. {Rev. des Questions Historiqnes, Oct., 
1892.) 

Irish scholars continued to govern the school even 
after the death of Charles and the disappearance of 
Scotus Erigena. Thus, under Louis the Pious, Man- 
non, who afterwards withdrew to the monastery at 
Condate, raised the tone and standard of the school 
so well that we find Radbod coming all the way from 
Utrecht to attend his lessons. 

The last master of the school of whom we find 
mention is St. Remi of Auxene, who died in 908. 
The palatine school became lost in oblivion there- 
after. 



MEDIEVAL tiNIVERSlTY LIFE 



(47) 



MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 1 

jHATHER Denifle's book on the origins of the 
universities is epoch-making. The learned 
Dominican, as sub-archivist of the Vatican library, 
has utilized to their full extent the rare and excep- 
tional advantages at his disposal. To the extensive 
materials that lay at his hand he brought to bear 
vast learning and marvelous patience. No document 
seems to have escaped him ; he allows nothing in 
the document that he handles to pass unchallenged. 
He has an eye for the most minute details. Indeed, 
it is in grasping the whole meaning of a phrase or 
sentence that he has been enabled to correct so many 
illusions in which the historians of all our universi- 
ties have been living. His method is purely ana- 
lytical. He leaves very little to inference. He 
makes no statement that is not based on a docu- 



1 American Catholic Quarterly Review. 

" Die Entstehung der Universitaten des Mittelalters bis 
1400." Von P. Heinrich Denine, aus dem Predigerorden, 
Unterarchivar des HI. Stuhles. Berlin. 1885. 

" De l'Organisation de l'Enseignement dans l'Universite 
de Paris au Moyen Age." Par Charles Thnrot. Paris. 1850. 

" Essai sur l'Organisation des Etudes dans l'Ordre des 
Freres Precheurs au Xllleme et au XlVeme Steele" (1216- 
1342). Par G. Douais. Paris. 1884. 

" Monumenta Franciscana. 2 vols. Rolls Series. Vol. i. 
edited by J. S. Brewer, London, 1858; vol. ii. edited by Richard 
Howlett, 1882. 

E. E-4 (49) 



50 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

ment, or that is not backed up by ample proof. His 
familiarity with the literature of the subject of uni- 
versities in all its details enables him to go behind 
the polish of the sentence and lay finger upon the 
very text that the author had in mind when stating 
his propositions. He forthwith discusses and settles 
the authoritative value of the work drawn from. 
This is the perfection of critical acumen. 

And inasmuch as our historians of universities 
have been living in a fool's paradise concerning the 
origin and formation of those institutions, Father 
Denifle has his hands full in correcting, refuting, re- 
jecting, and discussing the statements of his prede- 
cessors. His book in every page bristles with argu- 
ment. It is a book that shall henceforth be indis- 
pensable to the student of history. No man can 
ignore it and presume to write upon mediaeval times. 
The three agencies that moulded the Middle Ages 
into their characteristic shape and gave them life 
and being were the Papacy, the Holy Roman Em- 
pire, and the University of Paris. Each wielded a 
far-reaching influence, the full extent of which few 
historians have been able to measure. Therefore do 
we most cordially thank Father Denifle for the 
scholarly volume he has given us, and we hope 
and pray that he be spared the health and 
strength to finish the other volumes that are to 
follow. 

Prior to Father Denifle's great book the only woik 
that attempted to remove the history of the Univer- 
sity of Paris out of the domain of romance in which 
Du Boulay had placed it was the slender volume of 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 51 

M. Charles Thurot. Every student of education since 
1850 has found the book invaluable in giving him for 
the first time a correct notion of the organization of 
the University of Paris. Even the search-light of 
Father Denifle's acumen, while pointing out a mis- 
take here and there, approves of the main conclu- 
sions of the author. When Thurot went astray he 
was generally misled by placing too great confidence 
in Du Boulay. 

M. l'Abbe Douais did for the Dominicans what 
Thurot did for the University of Paris. He for the 
first time mapped out for the general reader the whole 
complex organization of study under which the Do- 
minicans passed. His book is a valuable contribu- 
tion to the history of pedagogics. It is largely 
based upon original documents. The book is 
timely, for men are now beginning to appreciate 
the influence of the mendicant orders upon the 
Middle Ages. 

In like manner, the " Monumenta Franciscana" 
gives us insight into the foundations of the Francis- 
cans in London and Oxford. The first volume in- 
cludes the chronicle of Thomas Eccleston, the letters 
of Adam Marsh, and a short register of the Minorites 
in London. The second volume contains a fragment 
of Thomas Eccleston's treatise on the advent of the 
friars, the rule of St. Francis, the statutes of the ob- 
servant Franciscans, and other valuable records bear- 
ing upon the order. Noteworthy is the respectful 
tone in which the introductions to these volumes are 
written by the late Professor Brewer and Mr. Richard 
Howlett. These writers were not Catholic, but no 



52 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

Catholic could be more zealous in defending the prac- 
tises and customs of the friars; none could be more 
considerate in making allowance for time and place. 
Father Denifle is outspoken in his denunciation 
of the synthetic method as applied to history. He 
must be analytical or nothing. He is convinced that 
naught but unsatisfactory results can be reached by 
the synthetic method. 1 But we should distinguish. 
For purposes of investigation and verification, the 
analytical is the only proper method ; but results hav- 
ing been reached, there is always place for the syn- 
thetic method. The material having been tested, it 
may be safely employed to build up with. There- 
fore, under leave of Father Denifle, we shall make a 
short study of school-life in the mediaeval universi- 
ties, in the course of which we shall attempt to re- 
construct that life as contemporaries reveal it, and 
as it appears to our view. We shall first consider the 
organization of a university. 

I. 

The oldest mediaeval universities of which we 
have cognizance are those of Paris and Bologna. 
The origin of each is buried in the mists of the past. 
Bologna became famous as a school of law; 
students flocked thither from all parts ; in the 
course of time it possessed an autonomy of its own. 
Pope and emperor endowed it with certain rights and 
privileges, and forthwith it loomed before us as a 
great university. So it was with the University of 

1 " Einleitung," xxiii. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 53 

Paris. For half a century before it became recog- 
nized as such, we find it to have been a great intel- 
lectual centre, made famous by the brilliant teachings 
of William of Champeaux, Abelard and Peter Lom- 
bard. The masters became organized into a scholas- 
tic guild. But the university can be traced to no 
one school, or no combination of schools as its 
source. 1 The teachers of that day supplied an edu- 
cational want ; the schools of Paris thus became cen- 
ters of instruction which grew apace with the con- 
course of students and teachers. 

" They had practical ends," says Laurie ; " their 
aim was to minister to the immediate needs of soci- 
ety. . . . They simply aimed at critically expound- 
ing recognized authorities in the interests of social 
wants. It was the needs of the human body which 
originated Salerno ; it was the needs of men as related 
to each other in a civil organism which originated 
Bologna ; it was the eternal needs of the human spir- 
it in its relation to the unseen that originated Paris. 
We may say, then, that it was the improvement of 
the profession of medicine, law and theology which led 
to the inception and organization of the first great 
schools." 2 

To the inception, perhaps, yes ; to the organiza- 
tion, decidedly no. The University of Paris was not 
organized from the schools of St. Victor's, or St. Gene- 
vieve's, or any combination of these with other 
schools. There is extant no record of a definite act 
by which one might say, " Here is the charter of 
incorporation ; here is the decree of organization." 



1 This point has been settled forever by F. Denifle, "Entste- 
hung der Universitiiten," pp. 655 seq. 

2 "Rise and Constitution of Universities," pp. 109, no. 



54 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

The guild spirit was abroad and permeated all 
trades and professions. The masters were no excep- 
tion. When their guild looms into prominence, it 
receives recognition ; but it is only by decree of 
pope or emperor — and of pope chiefly — that 
its degrees become entitled to universal respect. 
Thus, long after the guild of masters in Paris had 
become recognized, it remained under the jurisdic- 
tion of the chancellor of the cathedral of Notre 
Dame. It was out of the struggle between the chan- 
cellor and the masters that the university grew into 
a corporate existence. 

The chancellor of Notre Dame had been an im- 
portant factor in educational matters up to the be- 
ginning of the twelfth century. He held absolute 
sway over the students of all Paris ; he dispensed 
licenses; he was the students' civil and religious 
judge; he had the power of excommunication. 1 He 
became high-handed and abused his power. He 
exacted exorbitant fines ; he had a dungeon of his 
own, and imprisoned arbitrarily. 

The popes and their legates, in order to diminish 
this power, granted various privileges to students 
and masters. Thus Innocent III., who had been 
himself a student in Paris, and had been witness of 
the chancellor's tyranny and of the long train of 
evils that followed in its wake, legislated in order to 
break it down. In 1208 he authorized the teachers 
to be represented by a syndic ; in 1209 he bestowed 
upon them the right to take oath to observe such 
rules as they deemed proper and useful to impose 

} Bulaeus, " Hist. Univ. Paris.," vol. iii., p. 44. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 55 

upon themselves as a body. In 1213, he restricted 
the chancellor's judicial powers by forbidding him 
to refuse a license to teach, to anybody recom- 
mended by the masters. This act is regarded as the 
charter of the university. 1 In this manner did His 
Holiness constitute masters and students into a 
true corporation. 

Six years later — in 12 19 — Pope Honorius III. 
forbade the chancellor to excommunicate masters 
and students in a body, without the authorization of 
the Holy See. a The kings of France were no less 
generous in the privileges and prerogatives that 
they granted the masters and students of Paris. 
All this legislation fostered the growth of the uni- 
versity, while it crippled the authority of the chan- 
cellor. 

But the death-blow was given to that authority 
when the masters and students abandoned the 
shadow of the cathedral and, flocking to the left 
bank of the Seine, found refuge in the depen- 
dencies of the abbeys of St. Genevieve and St. 
Victor. In 12 13 no school belonging to the univer- 
sity stood outside the island of the city. 3 In 121 5, 
the papal legate, Robert de Courcon, regulated in 
regard to the study of theology that no one should 
teach it who was not thirty-five years old, who had 
not devoted at least eight years to study in the 
schools, and who had not in addition attended a 



1 Thurot, "De l'Organisation de l'Universite," p. 12. 

2 Not any member of the University, as Thurot puts it. — 
De ['Organisation," p. 12. 

3 Denitie, "Die Entstehung der Universitaten," p. 662. 



56 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

theological course of five years. 1 This shows that 
Paris had already a school of theology, and that 
dialectics were regarded as simply a preparation for 
the higher branch. 

In 1216, the first year of the papacy of Honorius 
III., who took an abiding interest in the rising uni- 
versity, a school was opened under the jurisdiction 
of the chancellor of St. Genevieve's. The chancel- 
lor of the cathedral regarded this as an encroach- 
ment upon his rights, and refused to regard as valid 
any license or diploma signed by the chancellor of 
St. Genevieve's. The quarrel was settled by Pope 
Honorius III. in a brief to the bishop and chancel- 
lor of Paris, in which it was ordered that any licen- 
tiate of the chancellor of St. Genevieve's be admitted 
to teach upon the same footing with a licentiate of 
the chancellor of Notre Dame. This gave new 
impetus to the schools on the left bank of the Seine. 
Students continued to flock thither. Between 1219 
and 1222 the largest exodus to Mount St. Genevieve 
took place. 

1 Bulaeus, vol. i., p. 82. Thurot mistook the reading of 
this text in his essay. 

UNIVERSITIES. 

Addenda: Rome encouraged studies in a more substantial 
manner than by privileges. Students and professors who held 
benefits were dispensed from residence, and permitted to enjoy 
the revenues of such benefits. Du Boulay, "Hist. Univ. 
Par.," ii., p. 2, 570. 

REGENTS. 

Addenda: The Regent Master of Arts held a disputation 
on each of the first forty days after his inception. During 
that time he was not permitted to wear boots; instead, it was 
regulated that he wear heelless shoes, known as " pynams," 
later on, as " slop-shoes." " Mun. Acad.," p. 450. Lvte, "A 
Hist, of Oxford," p. 218. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITT LIFE. T>7 

About 1227 the schools of theology and law 
were transferred to the same side. Thenceforth, 
the abbot of St. Genevieve's assumed a certain 
amount of jurisdiction over the university, and, 
finally the chancellor of St. Genevieve's shared the 
administration with the chancellor of Notre Dame 
and the rector of the four nations. Thus was the 
University of Paris — the Latin Quarter — cradled 
on the island beneath the shadow of Notre Dame. 
Thus did it grow into a corporate existence out of 
the struggles of the masters to rid themselves of the 
thraldom of the chancellor. 

Once only did the papacy fail in sustaining the 
university in this struggle. The incident will throw 
light upon mediaeval university life. About 1221 the 
university had a seal engraved as the essential at- 
tribute of its corporate autonomy. The chapter of 
Notre Dame took umbrage at this act as a novelty 
not to be tolerated and brought the case before the 
papal legate then residing in Paris. The legate placed 
an injunction upon any further use of the seal until 
the case should have been properly tried and decided. 
Before the decision was arrived at, the seal was used, 
and in 1225 the legate decided in favor of the chap- 
ter of Notre Dame, broke the seal and forbade, under 
penalty of excommunication, the formation of an- 
other. 

This decision raised a storm. The scholars and 
masters rose up as one body ; they besieged the house 
in which the legate dwelt, and caused him to flee to 
some place of safety. It was only in 1246 that the 
university afterwards obtained from Pope Innocent 



58 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

IV. the right of holding and using a seal. In the 
meantime the four nations had each its seal, and any 
document requiring the sanction of the whole uni- 
versity was stamped with the four seals conjointly. 
While examining these seals in the beautiful volume 
of Vallet de Viriville we are reminded that the patrons 
of the university were the Blessed Virgin, St. Cathe- 
rine, St. Nicholas and St. Andrew. 1 

Speaking of the four nations reminds us of the 
fact that they, no more than the pre-existent schools, 
were the elements out of which the university was 
directly formed. They came after that formation. 
The university grew simply out of the association 
of the professors of the four disciplines: theology, 
law, medicine, and arts. 2 The four nations were 
so many guilds modeled after the Saxon guilds of 
an earlier age. The division was more artificial 
than spontaneous. It grew out of the peculiar rela- 
tion of things in the Middle Ages. Youths flocking 
to a centre of learning from all parts of the world 
found themselves among strangers, exposed to every 
kind of imposition. Until it was otherwise legislated 
for, and even thereafter, these youths were charged 
exorbitant prices for lodging, board, books, service, 
and clothing. 

True, the university from the hour of its incep- 
tion undertook to protect the students against the 
exactions of the townspeople. Thus, the price of 
lodgings was to be fixed by sworn arbitrators, half 



1 See the images of those saints on the first seals in " His- 
toire de l'Instruction Publique en Europe," pp. 129-135. 

2 Denifle, " Entstehung," p. 131. 



MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 59 

appointed by the town and half by the city; 1 but 
there were many other things in regard to which the 
students required protection, and of which the uni- 
versity could not or would not take cognizance. 
Hence the necessity of their forming themselves into 
associations for mutual protection. The natural di- 
vision was according to nations and provinces. 

Oxford had two nations, the North and the South ; 
the students of Bologna were divided into Transal- 
pine and Cisalpine; those of Paris were divided into 
four nations. The last-named were organized some- 
where about 1 2 19. They were composed of all the 
scholars included in the licentiate, together with the 
Masters of Arts. 2 The four nations were known as 
the French, which included the Italian, Spanish and 
Greek students; the Picardians, which included the 
students of the northeast and the Netherlands; the 
Normans and the English, which included those of Ire- 
land, Scotland and Germany. Later on, we find Fran- 
ciscan students in the university so numerous that 
for convenience sake they were divided into nations. 
Such a division was well calculated to bring about a 
simplification of general management and superin- 
tendence. Each of the four nations had its own hall 
and its own rights and privileges as a corporate body. 
It had its procurator, and, as has already been re- 
marked, its seal distinct from that of the university, its 
common purse, its patron saint, and its Masses. 3 

1 " Story of the University of Edinburgh," by Sir A. Grant, 
i., p. 5. Gregory IX. obtained this concession from Louis IX. 
in 1244. 

2 Denifie, " Entstehung," p. 131. 

3 Thurot, "De POrganisation de l'Enseignement," p. 22. 



60 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

Members were addressed according to the nation 
under which they were enrolled. Those of the French 
nation as Honor anda NatioFrancice, Gallorum or Gal- 
licana ; those of Picardy as Fidclissima Picardorum, 
or Picardica ; those of Normandy as Veneranda 
Nor manor nm or Normanice ; and those of Germany 
as Constantissima Germa?wrum or Allemanice Natio. 1 
In consequence of the wars between England and 
France antipathy to England was shown at an early 
stage of the university by expunging that name and 
substituting Germany instead. The national spirit 
waxed strong with the growth of each organization. 
Party spirit ran high among the nations. Public fes- 
tivities were frequently occasions for public rioting. 

Each nation vied with the others in celebrating 
the feast day of its patron caints, with the religious 
solemnities of which were mixed up the most worldly 
and profane rejoicings. They were made the occasion 
of illuminations, masqueradings, balls and cavalcades. 

As each nation sought to excel in display, mem- 
bers of the other nations endeavored to spoil the 
celebration. They were attacked while walking in 
procession. A decree of Oxford University prohibited 
the nations from going to church or to the public 
places in a body, dancing or shouting with masks 
over their faces, or to march anywhere with garlands 
of leaves or flowers on their heads under penalty of 
excommunication, and if persisted in, of imprison- 
ment. 2 Not only did each nation seek to rival the 



1 Vallet de Viriville : "Histoire de l'Instruction Publique 
en Europe," p. 134. 

2 "Munimenta Academica," p. 18. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITT LIFE. 61 

others in pomp and show, but each to a certain 
degree despised the others, and attached thereto a 
nickname of opprobrium that was considered charac- 
teristic. 

The Englishman was a drunkard and a leech ; the 
Frenchman was proud, effeminate and decked out 
like a woman; the German, furious and obscene; the 
Norman, vain and boastful ; the Poitevin, a traitor 
and a spendthrift ; the Burgundian, stupid and bru- 
tal; the Breton, light and changing; the Lombard, 
miserly, cowardly and avaricious; the Roman, sedi- 
tious, violent, and quick at blows; the Sicilian, cruel 
and tyrannical ; the Brabantine, a man of blood, an 
incendiary, a brigand ; the Fleming, a glutton, a 
prodigal, and soft as butter. 1 The hurling of such 
epithets soon led to blows. Even the religious or- 
ders became tainted with the race-spirit. We read 
that the superior of the Dominicans in Oxford ob- 
jected to the receiving of subjects from other nations 
in the convent of that place, for which he was de- 
posed in general chapter and subjected to a severe 
penance for several years. 2 

There was one common enemy in relation to 
whom all the nations in all the universities were 
united as one man. That enemy was the town. 
The students were so protected by papal and royal 
decrees that they could behave most outrageously 
with the greatest impunity and escape chastisement. 

1 Jacques de Vitry: "Historia Occidentalis," cap. vii., p. 
278. Archbishop Vaughan erroneously mentions the Picards 
in this quotation. Jacques de Vitry does not use the word. 

2 Martene and Durand : "Thesaurus Anecd.," t. iv., 1730, 
I73i- 



62 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

The university became the spoiled child of kings and 
popes. The young men had no respect for person 
or property. They compelled the passers-by to give 
up their purses, and spent the booty so acquired in 
the taverns with the vilest company of men and 
women. No townsman or townswoman was safe in 
their hands. No matter how great their crime, if 
taken into custody by the civil authorities the whole 
university was up in arms and suspended all lessons 
till the culprits were released. 1 There was never a 
peace between town and gown ; there was merely an 
armistice ; the feud was only smouldering when it 
was not open. Affrays not infrequently ended in 
the plundering of houses, and even in murder. 

A characteristic incident that occurred in 1381 
in Cambridge, when the country was in a state of 
intense excitement, is told by Mr. J. Bass Mullinger: 

"At Corpus Christi all the books, charters and 
writings belonging to the society were destroyed. At 
St. Mary's the university chest was broken open, and 
the documents which it contained met with a similar 
fate. The masters and scholars, under intimidation, 
surrendered all their charters, muniments and ordi- 
nances, and a grand conflagration ensued in the 
market-place, where an ancient beldame was to be 
seen scattering the ashes in the air, as she exclaimed, 
'Thus perish the skill of the clerks !'" 2 

These instances might be multiplied at will. 

The nations soon grew beyond the mere pur- 
poses of discipline that seemed to have been the 

1 For instances see Du Boulay, " Hist. Univ. Paris," t. v., 
PP- 97 > i45> 830; t. vi, p. 490. 

2 " History of the University of Cambridge." " Epochs of 
Church History,'' p. 20. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITT LIFE. 63 

primary object of their formation. The prominence 
that they acquired in avenging injuries done any 
member of their guild, whether by legal process or 
otherwise, gave them a voice in the administration 
of the university. Their proctors were received 
with the dignity and honor becoming representatives 
of bodies so powerful. They elected officers ; they 
prescribed studies ; they were foremost in repelling 
every attack made upon the rights and privileges of 
the university by chancellor or bishop. They 
elected a common head who became known as the 
rector. In 1249 they agreed that this election shall 
be by means of the four proctors. 1 The rector was 
taken exclusively from the faculty of arts. At first 
elected for a month, afterwards for six weeks, he 
was by statute of 1278 elected for three months. In 
the beginning he was only the common head of the 
nations. Denifle says: "If the rector was only 
head of the nations, and these were not identical 
with the university, it is self-evident that the rector 
was not head of the university." 2 

As we have seen, the nations soon became the 
most formidable, the most active and the most 
aggressive elements in the university. Towards 
1300 the faculties of law and medicine were subject 
to the rector of the four nations; towards 1350 the 
faculty of theology fell under his jurisdiction, and 
he then became head of the whole university. 3 
Father Denifle considers the office to have been a 



1 Bulaeus, "Hist. Univ. Paris," vol. iii,, p. 222. 

2 "Entstehung," p. 107. 

3 Denifle, Ibid., p. 132. 



64 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

superfluous one throughout the whole career of the 
university. 1 Be this as it may, the day of the 
rector's installation was one of great rejoicing. It 
was celebrated by a solemn procession, in which the 
religious orders residing in the Latin quarter joined 
the members of the university. His jurisdiction 
was supreme, extending to all schools, officers and 
trades under the university. He was held in 
great honor and esteem ; was frequently called into 
the councils of the king, and in procession walked 
side by side with the Bishop of Paris as his peer. 
He was custodian of the treasury and the archives 
and controlled the Pres-aux-clercs. He gave letters 
of scholarship to masters and students, conferred on 
them the privileges of the gown, and received from 
them in return the oath of perpetual obedience, no 
matter the dignity to which they might afterwards 
arrive. 2 He was addressed in French as Messire, or 
l' Amplissime ; in Latin as Amplissime Rector, or 
Vestra A mplitudo? 

The revenue of the rector came out of the sale of 
parchment which was controlled by the university. 
The market was permitted only in three places, 
namely: in a hall of the convent of the Mathurins, 
at the fair of St. Laurent and at that of St. Denis. The 
rector sent out his four sworn dealers in parchment 
to count and tax the bundles brought in for sale by 
the outside merchants. The tax being levied and 

1 " Entstehung," p. 693. 

2 Vallet de Viriville, "Histoire de 1 'Instruction publique 
en Europe," p. 125. 

3 Ibid., p. 134. 



MEDI^ VA L UNI VERSITT L IFE . 5 

gathered, after the tradesmen by appointment of the 
king, those of the bishops and the masters and schol- 
ars had made their purchases, the merchants were 
free to sell to whom they would. 1 In 1292 there 
were nineteen dealers in parchment in Paris, twelve 
of whom lived on the street then known as des Ecri- 
vains, now called de la Parclieminerie? 

The great event in this connection was the fair 
held at St. Denis. From 1109 it was customary for 
the people headed by the bishop and many of the 
clergy of Paris, to go in procession to the open plain 
of St. Denis in order to venerate a portion of the 
true Cross. 

The relic was exposed, prayers were said, sermons 
were preached and solemn benediction was given. 
The exposition of the Holy Cross lasted nine days 
during which these devotions were repeated. Mer- 
chants took occasion of the throngs to expose their 
wares, and the plain of St. Denis during this season 
became also a place of chaffer — a fair — indicturn? 
As late as 1429 the religious character was still kept 
up, for we find that June 8th of that year the bishop 
and clergy went to St. Denis in order to preach a 
sermon and give benediction of the Holy Cross. 4 

Early in the thirteenth century St. Denis became 
the chief market for parchments. The rector of the 
university recognized it as such, and rode in state to 
the fair, and had his seal impressed upon all the 

1 Crevier, "Histoire de l'Universite," t. ii., p. 130. 

2 A. Franklin, "La Vie privee d'Autrefois, Ecoles et Col- 
leges," p. 94. 

3 Whence l'endit — lendit — Land it. 

4 Le Beuf, " Histoire du Diocese de Paris," t. iii., p. 283. 

E. E.— s 



66 ESS A rS EDUCATIONAL. 

parchments required during the year. 1 It was the 
occasion of a general holiday for the university. 
The students started from St. Genevieve's, and rode in 
procession to the grounds amid the astonishment of 
the townsfolk. No sooner had they set foot on the 
ground than they abandoned themselves to all kinds 
of disorder. It was a pilgrimage of voluptuousness 
in which innumerable excesses were committed. 2 In 
following the doings of the rector we are getting a 
further glimpse of mediaeval university life. His was 
a unique position in that life. To attain the goal of 
his ambition, his nation — and every nation had its 
own candidate — set on foot intrigues in which they 
exhausted their ingenuity; there was rivalry open 
and secret ; there were bribings and threatenings ; 
masters and scholars became excited ; violence and 
quarrelling were frequent, ending sometimes in 
murder. 3 Disorder and turmoil preceded the attain- 
ing of the office; disorder and turmoil accompanied 
the celebrations connected with the holding of the 
office; disorder and turmoil succeeded to the going 
out of office. This excitement — this constant seeth- 
ing of brain and vibration of nerve — enters into the 
very life of the university. 

It was out of all this turmoil that the university 
grew into life and being, under the fostering care of 
church and state. The privileges that both church 

1 Le Beuf, Ibid., p. 269. 

2 Vallet de Viriville, loc. cit., p. 172. A full description — 
a description that we dare not reproduce — written between 1290 
and 1300, has been published in the valuable work of Le Beuf, 
" Histoire du Diocese de Paris," p. 259. 

3 Thurot, " De l'Organisation," p. 32. 



MEDIsEVAL UNIVERSITT LIFE. 67 

and state conceded were the vital principle of her 
existence. "A university without privileges," says 
Du Boulay, ** is a body without a soul." 1 Looking 
back upon her growth, we find her cradled in the 
sanctuary of Notre Dame, then nourished into full 
development as an organism, independent of the 
state, with her own autonomy and with power to 
make her own laws. She drew her vitality from the 
Holy See. The same is true of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge. It is amusing to note how jealously Oxford 
watched Paris. Whatever privilege Paris received, 
Oxford claimed, as being on a par with her sister 
Studium. Nay, if some of the doctors in Paris were 
given a benefice or made bishops, forthwith Oxford 
sent a deputation to Rome asking for an equal share 
in the bounty of the Holy See. 

As science is free as truth, even so were these 
mediaeval universities secure from all control. This 
complete liberty was the secret of their success. 
Scholars and masters enjoyed immunity from civil 
jurisdiction, and were answerable for their behavior 
only to fellow-members. In this respect, the Uni- 
versity of Paris stood alone, a power great and unique 
in the world, ranking in prestige and influence with 
the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. Doctrinal 
heresies lurked and grew within the precincts of 
this and other universities ; immorality was at times 
rampant among students and professors, but withal, 
as children of the Church, encouraged and protected 
by the popes, they were Catholic in their spirit and 



1 " Hist. Univ. Paris," vol. L, p. 95. 



68 BSSA TS EDUCATIONAL. 

in the general tone of their teachings. " Privileged 
and well-beloved daughters of the Church," says 
Wimpheling, " they endeavored by their fidelity and 
attachment to render to their mother all that they 
owed her." ' So long as they remained docile to the 
Church, they flourished ; the moment they were secu- 
larized and became mere tools in the hands of unscru- 
pulous governments, they fell from their high and 
exceptional standing. This is their history in a nut- 
shell. 

II. 

Such was the outward showing of a mediaeval 
university as witnessed in its highest type. Its 
inner life was more varied and interesting. Let us 
again confine ourselves to Paris or to its models. 
The University of Paris was an intellectual center 
through which passed numerous currents of human- 
ity from every part of Christendom — all devoured 
by a thirst for knowledge that could scarcely be 
satisfied. There was scarcely a class or condition of 
men that was not to be found in a mediaeval univer- 
sity. The rich were there, and in their eagerness to 
acquire knowledge forgot that they were rich, and 
neglected to surround themselves with the luxuries 
and comforts that wealth might have purchased. 
The poor were there, and were not ashamed of their 
poverty. Prince and peasant, lordly cardinal and 
struggling clerk, sat on the same floor listening to 
the same lecture. Boys of twelve were there ; a 
statute had to be passed excluding those under that 

1 "De Arte Impressorio," p. 19. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITT LIFE. 69 

age. Men of thirty were there ; " at the age of 
thirty or forty," says Le Clerc, "the student at the 
university was still a scholar." 1 Professors in one 
department of letters were to be seen, after deliver- 
ing their own lectures, seated in the same hall with 
their pupils studying the same matter. " This gave 
to the professorship," says Janssen, " a lively, ani- 
mated and youthful emulation ; to the student a 
dignity and an influence, traces of which we meet 
with everywhere in the constitutions of the uni- 
versities." 3 

Before assisting at a lesson, let us acquire some 
idea of the attainments of scholars and masters. Stu- 
dents began the university course at an early age. 
Having learned reading, writing and the elements of 
Latin grammar, they started to study logic at the 
age of twelve, and from fourteen upward they were 
in position to submit to the examinations and carry 
on the disputations that were requisite before receiv- 
ing any academic distinction. 

The first was that of determinant. In order to 
receive the distinction of determinant, the student, 
after his second year's course, applied for examina- 
tion. This examination was severe. Immediately be- 
fore Christmas, the candidate sustained, in presence 
of the school, an argument or dispute on some ques- 
tion of morals against a regent. Finally, there was 
the crowning test, in which he disputed daily, till 
the end of Lent, in the school of his nation, rue 
de Fouarre. Remember that these disputes were 

1 "Hist. Litt. de la France au XlVeme Siecle," i., p. 269. 

2 " Geschichte," i., p. 74. 



70 ESS A 2~S EDUCATIONAL. 

carried on by boys not older than fifteen or sixteen 
years. In 1472 the Lenten disputes were suppressed, 
and the degree of bachelor was substituted for that 
of determinant. If successful, the candidate received 
a certificate showing that he had read the following 
works: 

1. " The Introduction " of Porphyry in the trans- 
lation of Boethius. Porphyry wrote the book as an 
introduction to the " Categories " of Aristotle, a 
work also translated by Boethius. It was through 
this book that the question of Nominalism and 
Realism assumed such vast proportions during the 
Middle Ages. 

2. " The Categories " of Aristotle. 

3. The book on " Interpretation," which was the 
only part of Aristotle's writings taught before the 
ninth century in the translation of Boethius. It is 
generally known under its Greek title, " Periher- 
menias." 

4. " The Syntax" of Priscian. This contained 
books xvii. and xviii. of Priscian's Grammar, and was 
known as the " Priscianus Minor." Priscian (flor. 
500) was the standard grammarian of the Middle 
Ages. 

5. An ordinary or an extraordinary course in the 
"Topics" and " Elenchi " of Aristotle. These 
books had been translated by James of Venice be- 
fore 1128. 1 

6. The determinant should, in addition, have 
followed during two years the course in dogmatics, 



1 Am. Jourdain, " Recherches Critiques sur les Traductions 
d'Aristote," p. 58. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITT LIFE. 71 

and should have assisted at, and taken part in, the 
disputations. 

The course here given is of the thirteenth cen- 
tury. In the fifteenth century there was a general 
revolt against the scholastic system, and morals and 
rhetoric received a more prominent place. In 1452 
the rules of versification were made a recognized part 
of the course, and in 1457 tne study of Greek was 
added. But, looking at the programme of studies 
here laid down, it must be said that it was heavy 
work for youths not older than fifteen or sixteen. 

It may seem strange to us that boys of that age 
could carry on such disputes. The precociousness 
of the youth of those days is a fact that has been 
frequently commented upon. Tiraboschi called atten- 
tion to it, and Janssen gives several instances in the 
fifteenth century, in which extraordinary things are 
told of studious youths. Adam Potken (1490) read 
the " Eclogues of Virgil and the Orations of Cicero " 
to pupils ranging from eleven to twelve years of age. 
John Eck (b. i486) completed all the Latin classics 
from his ninth to his twelfth year. At the age of 
thirteen he entered Heidelberg, and at fifteen re- 
ceived from Tubingen the degree of Master of Arts. 
John Muller, the celebrated mathematician, matricu- 
lated in the University of Leipzig at the age of 
twelve, and in his sixteenth year received his Mas- 
ter's degree from the University of Vienna. 1 Multi- 
plicity of subjects and multiplicity of text-books tend 
to weaken the intellectual grasp of the modern 



1 Janssen, "Geschichte," pp. 59, 60. 



72 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

student. In those mediaeval days, when the student 
had few notes and less books to fall back upon, hav- 
ing listened to his lessons attentively and retained 
them carefully in memory, he became more self- 
reliant, and, if possessed of a fair share of talent, 
could hold his own in disputation. 

The determinant had certain privileges and cer- 
tain duties. He was entitled to wear a cape and to 
assist at the masses of the nations. Every Friday 
he was obliged to discuss grammar with the backward 
boys. He was liable to be called upon as assistant 
teacher and give special or cursory lessons. This led 
to abuse ; for we find from the statutes of Oxford 
that determinants, upon receipt of a bribe, were given 
to neglect the ordinary lessons and devote themselves 
exclusively to the cursory lessons. He furthermore 
presided over the disputations of the younger stu- 
dents, reviewed the whole question under discussion, 
noticed the imperfections or fallacies in the argu- 
ments advanced, and then pronounced his decisions 
or determinations in the scholastic forms. 1 His duty 
at other times was to dispute logic daily, except Fri- 
day, when he disputed grammar, and the first and 
last day of his determination, when he disputed ques- 
tions in morals and dogma. 

The hours for determining were from 9 to 12 and 
from 1 to 5. 2 In the meantime, after the first prin- 
cipal test, the determinant continued his studies till 
he had completed his twenty-first year, when he was 



1 Anstej, " Munimenta Academica," i., p. 87. 

2 Ibid., p. 246. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 73 

of age to become a licentiate, or one having the in- 
herent right to teach. He should also have made 
public reading in some school, of a book of Aristotle 
during a whole year. 

For the grand act of inception there was long 
and severe preparation on the part of the intellec- 
tual athlete, and when the event arrived it was 
accompanied by great excitement and turbulence. 
The ceremony was held in the hall of the nation 
under which the aspirant was ranked. The aspirant 
went from school to school, inviting each master in 
person. 1 Invitations of most elaborate designs were 
sent out to distinguished persons, and were fre- 
quently accepted. Charles VIII. of France was 
present in 1485 at the sustaining of a thesis. It 
was the ambition of every bachelor and his friends 
to have a brilliant gathering, and they resorted to 
every means to attain their object. This ambition 
went to the extent of making it customary to drag 
in every passer-by, will-he, nill-he, in order to have 
a large audience. Statutes were enacted forbidding 
the practice, under pain of excommunication and 
imprisonment. 3 

The mode of disputation did not vary. The 
theses had been announced some time before. The 
conclusions were beautifully inscribed on the invi- 
tations that had been sent out. The hour having 
arrived, let us enter the hall. The master is seated 
upon a platform, in a large armchair. The candi- 



1 Ibid., p. 433. 

2 Vallet de Viriville " Hist, de l'Education Publique, 
137- 



74 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

date for inception stands before him. The first 
thesis is announced, the young bachelor repeats the 
proposition, divides it up into its various headings 
and explains each as best he can, It is not per- 
mitted to interrupt him, according to the statutes; 
but on this point the statutes are frequently broken. 
He is not long speaking when an opponent under- 
takes to pick flaws in his arguments, formulating 
all his objections in the mould of the syllogism. 
The defendant takes up the objections, resolves 
them into their component parts, discusses separ- 
ately their affirmative and their negative sense, 
throws his argument into the syllogistic form, now 
distinguishing in regard to the use of terms, now 
denying the major or minor premiss, now calling 
attention to the employment of an undistributed 
middle term. As the debate grows warm, the 
dialectic skill and acumen of each shine forth. The 
opponent takes hold of the last distinction made 
by the defensor, and actually places him upon the 
horns of a dilemma. The audience cheers. The 
defensor is staggered ; only for a moment, however. 
He retorts the dilemma upon his wily objector and 
routs him, amid the clamor of the students. An- 
other takes up the cudgels and attacks the thesis 
from his point of view. Again, there are dis- 
tinctions and syllogisms and dilemmas as before. 
And so, " amid loud clamor on the part of the 
audience, and on the part of the combatants, great 
shaking of the head and stamping of the feet, and 
extending of the fingers, and waving of the hands, 
and contortions of the body as though they were 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 75 

crazed," ' the work goes on for hours, during whole 
days, and even weeks. Be it remembered that a 
written essay or thesis was in those days something 
unknown among students. Everything was car- 
ried on orally. 2 At last, after a severe struggle, the 
successful bachelor becomes an inceptor. Here, by 
the way, is the origin of our word " commence- 
ment " as applied to the closing exercises of a 
college. 

The disputation concluded, the newly-made incep- 
tor takes oath to observe the statutes and also that 
he is provided with a school in which to read. 3 Forth- 
with the biretta is placed on his head and he gives his 
inaugural lecture. If it is a candidate who incepts as 
a master in grammar, the beadle presents him with a 
birch and a ferule, with which he publicly flogs a boy 
within the precinct of the school. He pays the beadle 
for providing the birch and the boy for submitting to 
the flogging. 4 Then comes the feasting incident to in- 
ception, from which none are exempt. Even members 
of religious orders are obliged to give in money the 
average cost of a banquet. ("Mun. Acad.," p. 564.) 
The officers and the invited guests are arranged in 
order of precedence by the chancellor, or rector, or 
proctor of the nation. Presents consisting usually 
of silk or kid gloves, or of a scarlet hood were made 
to the officers and the distinguished guests. 



1 Peter Cantor, " Verbum Abbreviatum," cap. v., p. 34. 

2 Thurot, "De i'Organ. de l'Universite," p. 88. 

3 Mun. Acad., p. 414. 

4 See Mullinger, " History of the University of Cambridge, 
P- 344- 



76 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

Benificed persons licensed to read " The Sentences" 
at Oxford were obliged by statute to give robes to 
the officers just as the bachelors gave them. ( " Mun. 
Acad.," ii., p. 237.) These ceremonies were frequently 
accompanied by scenes of disorder and even of vio- 
lence. The statutes of Oxford decreed that on ac- 
count of such scenes no one on the occasion of the 
banquet should stop the free ingress and egress of 
any master or his servants to or from the hall or tent 
or other place in which the graduating feast is held, 
and that no one except the servants of the univer- 
sity, or the host, shall enter the said hall or tent un- 
til the masters who have been invited shall enter with 
their servants, and, after they shall have sat down, no 
one else shall sit down except by the appointment 
of the chancellor, and each in proper order according 
to his rank; and furthermore it is decreed that no one 
shall beat the doors, tables, or roof, or throw stones or 
other missiles so as to disturb the guests, under pen- 
alty of imprisonment, excommunication and a fine of 
twelve pence. 1 So great became the abuse, that ulti- 
mately all these costly rejoicings were abolished. 

The inceptor's next step was to apply for the 
master's degree. This was done as follows: Upon 
application the inceptor received from the chancel- 
lor a book on which he was to be interrogated. After 
mastering the volume he returned to obtain a day in 
which he might present himself for examination. 
Upon the day named he appeared before a jury of 
several masters presided over by the chancellor, and 



1 " Munimenta Academica," i., pp. 308, 309. 



MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 77 

after a searching examination he was declared admit- 
ted to the honor sought, or was postponed for an- 
other year. Furnished with ecclesiastical approba- 
tion, he came before the members of his faculty and 
received at their hands the master's cap. Once made 
master, the inceptor was required to teach while pur- 
suing his own studies in theology, in medicine, or in 
civil or canon law. 

"The fact," says Mr. J. Bass Mullinger, "that 
each Master of Arts, in turn, was called upon to take 
part in the work of instruction is one of the most 
notable features in the mediaeval universities. His 
remuneration was limited to the fees paid by the 
scholars who formed his auditory to the bedells, and 
was often consequently extremely small. When once, 
however, he had discharged this function, he became 
competent to lecture in any faculty to which he might 
turn his attention, and .... when studying either 
the civil or canon law, theology or medicine, might 
be a lecturer on subjects included in his own course." ] 

Here we leave the master teaching philosophy 
and pursuing his studies in the professional courses, 
in order to consider another element that enters into 
the formation of the university, and though the co- 
operation of that element was never cordially wel- 
comed, it none the less contributed largely to the 
university's development and prestige. 

III. 

Two religious orders that had sprung into ex- 
istence about the same time with the universities 
soon became identified with them and exercised 



'A History of the University of Cambridge," p. 28. 



78 £SSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

over them a deep and an abiding influence. These 
were the Franciscans and the Dominicans. Erase 
from the records of both Paris and Oxford the 
names of the learned men furnished by these orders, 
and you extinguish the greatest lights, the most 
dazzling glories, of mediaeval thought. There is a 
void that nothing can supply. Had these men not 
lived and labored as they did, the whole trend of 
modern thought would run differently. The Do- 
minicans were the first religious order admitted to 
membership in the university of Paris, and with 
time became the leaders of thought. 

The Franciscans, during almost a century, guided 
the destinies of Oxford. Oxford was the nursery 
of the order. From the time when Richard Muliner 
gave the corporation a house and piece of ground 
for their use, and Brother Agnello, coming up from 
London, caused to be built a decent school, in 
which he induced Robert Grosseteste to deliver 
lectures, and the future eminent Bishop of Lincoln 
brought that school into high repute — from that 
time the Gray friars became a power in the univer- 
sity. 1 They made rapid strides in study, in dispu- 
tation and in teaching. The most eminent men in 
England considered it an honor to lecture under 
their auspices. Under the able administration of 
Adam Marsh, the Gray friars achieved a world- 
wide reputation for learning. Let one who has 
made a thorough and a loving study of them speak, 
though he was not of their visible communion, and 



1 " Monumenta Franciscana," vol. i., pp. 17, 549. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 79 

to all appearances died not a member of their 
household. Professor Brewer says : 

" Lyons, Paris, and Cologne were indebted for 
their first professors to the English Franciscans in 
Oxford. Repeated applications were made from 
Ireland, Denmark, France and Germany for Eng- 
lish friars ; foreigners were sent to the English 
school, as superior to all others. It enjoyed a repu- 
tation throughout the world for adhering the most 
conscientiously and strictly to the poverty and 
severity of the order; and for the first time since 
its existence as a university, Oxford rose to a posi- 
tion not even second to Paris itself. The three 
schoolmen of the most profound and original genius, 
Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus and Occham, were 
trained within its walls. No other nation of Chris- 
tendom can show a succession of names at all com- 
parable to the English schoolmen in originality and 
subtility, in the breadth and variety of their attain- 
ments." x 

This unstinted tribute is not exaggerated. 

That the Franciscans should achieve such great- 
ness as a learned body is all the more remarkable, 
when it is remembered that Francis of Assisi, in 
making poverty his bride and the chief glory of his 
Order, had intended that poverty of spirit should 
extend to deprivation of intellectual food. He 
dreaded the influence of learned doctors upon his 
friars. He did not intend to create an order of stu- 
dents ; his sole object was to form simple men in the 
mould of nature's own simplicity, detached from 
everything in life, and, most of all, from self, burning 
with love of God and zeal for their neighbor ; men 



Monumenta Franciscana," i., preface, lxxxi. 



80 BSSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

of the people, in touch and sympathy with the 
people, living amongst the poorest upon the fare of 
the poorest, going into pest-houses and nursing the 
sick, waiting upon lepers, loving whatever was loath- 
some in humanity, seeking and cherishing whatever 
was abandoned or whatever others shrank from ; men 
free as truth. In moulding such men, he was laying 
the deepest and most solid foundation on which to 
build up the noblest intellectual superstructure. 

The spirit for study, the craving for knowledge, 
a spirit and a craving that have never been sur- 
passed, filled the very atmosphere of the thirteenth 
century. No body of men, with such noble aspira- 
tions as those possessed by the disciples of Assisi, 1 
could resist the inspiration of the hour, or keep pace 
with the progress of humanity, without utilizing one 
of the most God-like gifts bestowed upon man — his 
intellectual endowments. 

As early as 12 17, the Franciscans were installed 
in Paris, and it is not many years before we find them 
thoroughly equipped for educational purposes. In 
a short period they grew to be thousands. They 
provided for their own subjects a school of grammar, 
a school of rhetoric, a school of logic, and a fourth 
school for the study of the "Sentences" of Peter 
Lombard and the " Physics" of Aristotle. The hall 
for their advanced students was not excelled by any 
in the university. Their method was that of the 
university. They held two lectures in the morning — 
one on dogmatic theology, the other on particular 



See Luke Wadding, "Annales Minorum," t. i., p. 2^ 



MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITV LIFE. 81 

issues requiring explanation. In the afternoon there 
was a lecture on Holy Scripture, and from four to 
five the friars held open disputation, in which any 
comer was free to join. 1 In their rules of prayer 
and missionary labor, and in devoting themselves to 
healing the ailments of body and soul, they acquired 
a training and received a special formation that the 
university could not give. 

Their educational influence was many-sided. 
Mingling with the people, they cultivated the lan- 
guage of the people, and helped to fix the forms of 
our modern tongues ; as nurses of the sick, they com- 
pounded medicines and learned the healing proper- 
ties of plants; as missionaries, they traveled among 
many peoples, shrewd observers of men and man- 
ners and customs; 9 as instructors of the people in 
the truths of their religion, they organized companies 
to enact, and enacted themselves, at times, in the 
ancient miracle-plays, the great truths of our holy 
religion ; as disciples of their saintly founder who 
loved all things in nature, who called the sun his 
brother and welcomed death as his sister, they also 
looked upon bird and beast, flower and tree, with 
kindly and observant eye, and learned to respect and 
reverently investigate the phenomena of nature ; and 
so it happens that Roger Bacon makes his "Opus 



1 Vaughan, " St. Thomas of Aquin," pp. 228, 229. 

2 See the Itinerary of Blessed Odoric of Pordenone, in the 
"Acta Sanctorum," under January 14th. ' From this book, and 
from the account of the Franciscan friar, Carpini, concerning 
the Tartars, Sir John Mandeville filched all that is truthful in 
his so-called "Travels." See " Encyclopaedia Britannica," 
new edition. 

E. E.— 6 



82 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

Majus" the forerunner of the "Novum Organum" 
of his namesake of four hundred years later; in the 
domain of art, the tender devotion that they incul- 
cated for Mary Immaculate inspired the school of 
art which flowered into the Madonnas of Raphael. 

The Dominicans were established with the for- 
mal purpose of occupying themselves with books 
and studies rather than with the singing of anti- 
phons and responsories, 1 for their sole mission was 
to preach the doctrines of Christianity and to refute 
heresy. Their courses of instruction were accord- 
ingly thoroughly organized from the beginning. 
In each convent, four officers were charged with the 
studies : the prior, who looked after the general 
conduct and the spiritual and physical wants of the 
young brothers ; the lector and sub-lector, who 
taught in the schools ; and the master of studies, 
who was always with the brothers, taking part in 
their exercises, presiding over their repetitions, as- 
sisting at their examinations, and even, at times, 
explaining the lesson. 

In the fourteenth century, to these were added a 
cursory reader and a chief lector. The youthful 
aspirant to the order was admitted at the age of fif- 
teen, and was supposed to be instructed in all the 
preliminary branches of education. His novitiate, 
which lasted three years, was divided between study, 
spiritual exercises, and manual labor. The novitiate 
passed, the novice went through a three years' course 
of logic and rhetoric ; his whole course in logic should 

1 Theodosia Drane, "Christian Schools and Scholars," vol. 
ii., p. 59. 



MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITT LIFE. 83 

extend to five years. This was known as the Stu- 
dium artium. It corresponded to the course pur- 
sued in the university for a bachelor's degree. Its 
method was comprised in the three traditional 
words: lectures, study, disputation — legendo, stu- 
dendo, ac dispntando. The lector explained the text 
of the grammar, rhetoric, or logic, which the stu- 
dent had in hand ; the student immediately with- 
drew to learn the lesson. Later, all assembled, and 
there were repetitions and colloquies or discussions 
in circles of students of the same capacity. There 
were semi-annual examinations, and formal disputa- 
tions were carried on from time to time. By these 
means the student was prepared for the grand act 
of disputation. 

The young Dominican then passed to the course 
of ethics and physics, provided he was adjudged 
"tried, instructed and of good health," 1 for to none 
other was the course given. The course was known 
as the Studiiun naturalium. It extended over two 
years till 1372 when it was made thereafter a three 
years' course. It comprised natural philosophy, 
ethics, mathematics and all the sciences of that day. 
The treatises of Aristotle were pressed into service 
rapidly as they were translated. It was the course 
in which the genius of Albertus Magnus was watered 
and bloomed into flower and leaf and ripened into 
fruitful and suggestive thought in scientific matters ; 
and how great Albertus Magnus was in the domain 



1 Provincial chapter of^Montpelier, held in 1271. See G. 
Douais, "Organisation des Etudes chez les Freres Precheurs," 
p. 69. 



84 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

of natural science only a Poucher and a Humbolt 
can adequately tell. Even in that age Albert made 
permanent contributions to physical science. 1 St. 
Thomas availed himself of this course so well that 
he was afterwards able to speak to the students of 
the University of Paris upon the construction of 
aqueducts and machinery for raising and conduct- 
ing water — de aquarum conductibus et ingeniis eri- 
gendis — as well as expound the "Timaeus" of Plato. 2 

From this course the student passed to theology. 
The Studium Theologies lasted three years. It dif- 
fered from the previous course in that there was no 
exemption from its curriculum. The subject was 
so vast and so profoundly was it studied, it was never 
completely mastered. No member was too old or 
too learned to say that there was nothing more for 
him to acquire. Hence, all were required to follow 
the course. "The Friar Preacher," says Douais, 
"whether student or professor, assisted at the les- 
sons in theology with the two-fold intent of not for- 
getting what he had already learned and of adding 
to his stock of knowledge." 3 

Here, also, the method of teaching was in many 
respects similar to that pursued in the university. 
A text-book was read and commented upon by the 
lector. For a long time the "Sentences" of Peter 
Lombard was the text. Later, the commentaries 



1 See Echard, " Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum," t. i., 
pp. 162-183* 

2 Bulaeus, " Hist. Univ. Par.," t. iii, p. 408. 

3 " Organisation des fitudes chez les Freres Precheurs," 
P-75- 



MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITV LIFE. 85 

were carefully written before being delivered to the 
students. Lessons were given every day except feast- 
days. The customs of the order recognized three 
kinds of lessons: the public or ordinary lesson at 
which all assisted ; the private lesson given to back- 
ward students, and the extraordinary or cursory les- 
sons similar to those of the university, generally 
imparted by bachelors without being seated in the 
master's chair. There were repetitions, colloquies 
and disputations as in the philosophy classes. Only 
a doctor in theology was permitted to preside over 
the disputations. The times for disputation were 
Advent and Lent. The rule rigidly insisted that all 
the brethren be present at these exercises, and it was 
only after the disputation that they were permitted 
to go out to preach. 

Humbert Romanus, one of the generals of the 
Order, in calling attention to the defects against 
which the students should guard, throws further 
light upon the mode of conducting the exercise. 
He is unsparing in his censure of those friars, even 
though they be doctors, who presume to speak at all 
times in a light, flippant vein, without proper prep- 
aration, or without sufficient ability to discuss their 
themes. He is no less severe upon those who pre- 
serve an obstinate silence during the whole time of 
the exercise, whether through laziness, or timidity, 
or dread of defeat. Some debated well, but their 
vanity was continually cropping out; in season and 
out of season they aired their knowledge when holy 
and learned men would have blushed to name the 
authors that they read. Some there were who 



86 ESS A IS EDUCATIONAL. 

simply sought to get the better of the argument, re- 
gardless of truth ; others lacked precision and clear- 
ness, while not a few were obscure and diffuse. 
Even the most penetrating minds, at times, became 
lost in minute distinctions that were vain and use- 
less. 1 These disputations among the doctors in the- 
ology were not conducted merely with a view of 
sharpening the wits, or carrying on an intellectual 
joust, or as a display of talent. Their aim was higher. 
It was for the search after truth, the probing of truth, 
the more complete expression of truth. 

We have not yet exhausted the educational 
resources of the Dominicans. The order had in 
reserve other courses of discipline. Each province 
was obliged to have two special schools for the 
more gifted of its subjects. 2 These schools were 
intended solely for those young friars whose apti- 
tude gave promise of their becoming lectors one 
day. The friars were sent thither after pursuing 
the ordinary three years' course in theology. A 
doctor in theology, having under him a sub-lector, 
was placed in charge of each school. In 1290, a 
lector was appointed to teach special courses in 
exegesis and other biblical studies. These schools 
were known as the Stadia Solemnia. The method 
of instruction pursued in them was the same as that 
pursued in the lower course. The studies were sim- 
ply broadened and deepened. Those pursuing them 



1 " Expositio regulae B. Augustini," Biblioth. municip. de 
Toulouse, MS., 417 (I. 402, fo. 147b.), quoted by Douais, loc. 
Cit., p. 79. 

2 Pouais, loc. cit., p. 127. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 87 

were not permitted to remain longer than three 
years. 

Nor was this all. In certain centers, schools 
of higher study were established. They were 
called Stndia Gencralia. They were no mere novices 
in learning who were sent up to these schools. 
They were men who had been teaching for years, 
and who now resumed their studies with the inten- 
tion of winning the doctor's cap and of perfecting 
themselves in special branches. These schools 
were established in Paris, Oxford, Bologna, Naples, 
Montpelier and other university centers. Those 
who assisted at the course instituted in Paris did so 
with the view of becoming profound theologians ; 
those who attended the course in Bologna had in 
view chiefly the study of civil and canon law ; those 
who went to Barcelona intended to become skilled 
in the sciences of the Moors and versed in the 
Arabic and Hebrew languages. 

The discipline of these houses was severe. There 
was no vacation as in other schools ; the courses 
were profound, and were carried on without inter- 
mission during the whole three years that they 
lasted. None but brothers of approved health and 
tried powers of endurance, with a constitution 
equal to the great strain, were admitted to take up 
these courses. They were men who had already 
given evidence of their intellectual prowess as pro- 
fessors of philosophy, theology, Sacred Scriptures, 
or even as priors. Peter Lombard's book of " Sen- 
tences " was read through each year; there was also a 
complete course of biblical studies, besides the special 



88 BSSA T S EDUCATIONAL. 

branches that predominated in each school. Here 
the friars made a more profound study of the philo- 
sophical and theological errors of the day — and the 
very air was reeking with such errors — as well as of 
the Sacred Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church. 

The professors of the school were picked men. 
The superior called them together from all parts of 
Christendom. Once a week they held a solemn 
dispute. Such a dispute — deep, thoughtful, search- 
ing — must have been quite a contrast with the 
wranglings daily going on in School street at Ox- 
ford or the rue de Fouarre at Paris. After fifteen 
years of study — not counting the years spent be- 
sides in teaching or preaching on the mission — 
these men must indeed have become well equipped 
to proclaim truth and meet error, no matter the 
guise under which it should appear. In connection 
with this solemn and learned body of men dis- 
cussing the great issues of their day one image fills 
the mind. It is that of the magnificent tribute 
which Raphael paid to the Real Presence in his 
sublime picture, La Disputa. There has the artist 
painted the very men who took part in such solemn 
discussions. And though Duns Scotus and Dante 
were more at home in the halls of a Franciscan 
convent, still we meet there the familiar faces of 
Albert and Aquinas. 

We should never grow weary of repeating the 
fact that the greatest glory of the Dominican Stu- 
dium, indeed of the mediaeval university, is 
Thomas Aquinas. There was no principle of hu- 
man reason that he did not lay bare ; there was no 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 89 

problem in physical or metaphysical science that he 
did not grapple with and find a solution for ; there 
was no prevailing error that he did not attack and 
pursue to its last lurking place. The very construc- 
tion of the propositions in his most scientific work, 
the "Summa Theologiae," the very words in which he 
formulates objections, are understood only in the 
light of the history of contemporaneous error. He 
fought no windmills ; he set up no men of straw in 
order to knock them down. He dealt with living 
issues. He was in touch with his age upon all its 
intellectual wants and aspirations. When ponder- 
ing over his marvelous pages, let us not forget that 
while much is due to the transcendent genius of 
their writer, much also is due to the admirable con- 
servative method and rigid intellectual discipline of 
the Order in which that genius was moulded. 

A student once asked Thomas the best method 
of becoming proficient in science. The rules laid 
down by the Angelical Doctor are few and simple 
and to the point, and reflect the serenity of his own 
life. They bespeak a rare habit of mental cautious- 
ness. ■ They may be summarized as follows : 

" Pass from the easy to the difficult ; be slow to 
speak and equally slow to give assent to the speak- 
er; keep your conscience clear; do not neglect 
prayer ; be amiable towards everybody, but keep 
your own mind ; above all things avoid running 
about from one school to another ; let it be your 
delight to sit at the professor's feet; 1 be more 



1 There is here a play upon words that cannot be repro- 
duced : Sellam frequentare diligas, si vis in cellam vinariam 
introduci. 



90 ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

concerned to hoard in memory the good things said 
than to regard the person speaking; strive to un- 
derstand what you read, clearing your mind of all 
doubts as you go along; eagerly seek to place what- 
ever knowledge you can get hold of in the deposi- 
tory of your mind ; find out what you can do, study 
your limitations, and do not aim higher than your 
capacity permits." 1 

These are golden words to be cherished by every 
student. 

Such suggestions were especially valuable in 
those days. The spirit of university life was catch- 
ing, and that spirit was a wild and lawless one. 

"The professors in great part," said Archbishop 
Vaughan, "were reckless adventurers, a sort of wild 
knight-errants who scoured the country in search of 
excitement for the mind and money for the pocket. 
The students were, in the main, disorderly youths 
living in the very center of corruption, without con- 
trol, loving a noisy, dissipated life in town. . . . 
They would rollick and row, and stream in and out 
of the schools, like swarms of hornets, buzzing and 
litigating and quarreling with one another, upset- 
ting every semblance of discipline and order." : 

The picture is not overdrawn. It is merely a 
garbled transcript from the accounts left us by John 
of Salisbury, and Cardinal Vitry. " The distin- 
guished traits," says Leclerc, " of this student life, 
the memories of which have survived with singular 
tenacity, were poverty, ardent application, and turbu- 
lence." 3 The students were as riotous in intellectual 



1 "Opusculum," lxi. Opp. t. xvii., p. 338. 

2 "Life of St. Thomas of Aquin," p. 206. 

3 "Etat des Lettres au XIV. Siecle" (see the whole pas- 
sage), i. 269-271. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 91 

matters as many of them were licentious in morals. 
No subject was too sacred for their curiosity; 
there was no truth they were not prepared to 
challenge. The masters were bold and unscrupu- 
lous in their treatment of the holiest doctrines. 
Nay, so fond of novelties were they, that they were 
known to pay scholars to receive their strange 
teachings. The Franciscans and Dominicans, in 
the first fervor of their formation, every member 
filled with the spirit of charity and zeal, conserva- 
tive and orthodox in their teachings — more espe- 
cially the Dominicans — were a standing rebuke to 
the masters and scholars who were given to novel- 
ties and unwilling to mend their ways. Even the 
better class of university men looked askance at the 
coming among them of these religious. They were 
regarded as intruders. The prejudice extended from 
the university to the court. The laureate of St. Louis 
attacked the Dominicans. " They preach to us," he 
says, "that it is sinful to be angry and sinful to be 
envious, whilst they themselves carry on war for a 
chair in the university. They must, they will, ob- 
tain it. . . . The Jacobins are persons of such 
weight that they can do everything in Paris and in 
Rome." ' 

But the members of the university were not con- 
tent with words. They attempted to boycott the 
religious. "The masters and scholars of the rival 
schools would not permit young men to attend the 



1 " Oeuvres Completes de Ruteboeuf," t. ii., p. 251. The 
Dominicans were called Jacobins because their convent was on 
the St. Jacques. 



92 ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

lectures of the Dominicans, nor allow the young 
Dominicans to be present at secular disputations 
and defensions." 1 

The spites and jealousies that were arrayed 
against them found voice in the pamphlet — "Lat- 
ter Day Perils" — of William of St. Amour. It 
was a trumpet blast calling forth all the pent-up 
feelings that men had been nursing against the 
friars. We shall not enter into the details of this 
controversy. Suffice it to say that Thomas Aquinas 
was deputed to reply to the scurrilous tract, and he 
did so with all the calmness, scientific precision, and 
delicate sense of justice that characterize his works 
above those of his contemporaries. He met the 
issue in his own direct and simple manner. He 
asks: " Can regulars be members of a college of 
secular masters?" and replies that they most un- 
doubtedly can, since the function that seculars and 
regulars exercise as teachers is based upon that which 
is common to both, namely, to study and teach. 

" The function of teaching and learning," to use 
his own words, " is common to seculars and to re- 
ligious men ; whence there is nothing to forbid 
religious men from being associated with seculars 
in the same function of study and teaching, 2 even as 
men in diverse conditions compose the same body 
of the Church, inasmuch as they all agree in unity 
of faith." 



1 Vaughan, " Life of St. Thomas of Aquin," p. 250. 

2 " Opusculum," i., cap. iii. Op. xvii., p. n, ed. Parma. 
The same subject is discussed in the "Summa Theologiae," 
2a, 2se. Quaest. 187, 188. For a detailed account of the con- 
troversy see Vaughan, " Life of St. Thomas of Aquin," pp. 
208-367. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITT LIFE. 93 

More regularly organized than the university it- 
self, these religious schools had a staying influence 
upon her students, her professors, and her courses 
of study. 

IV. 

We shall now descend to the university schools, 
and from the various side-lights that have been 
thrown upon them endeavor to catch a glimpse of 
the manner in which masters and scholars live and 
act therein. Throughout this intellectual seething 
mass, there are schools giving instruction in the 
whole gamut of learning contained in the Trivium 
and the Quadrivium. Here is a class of youths 
studying grammar. In the Middle Ages, grammar 
included literature and composition as well as the 
technical rules of construction. It covered the 
whole of the humanities. Hraban Maur defines 
grammar to be " the science of interpreting poets 
and historians, and of writing and speaking cor- 
rectly." ' 

John of Salisbury, who resided in Paris in the 
latter half of the twelfth century, thus describes the 
method pursued by his teacher, one of the most 
competent in his day : 

" Bernard of Chartres, not confining himself to 
grammar, threw in a thousand observations during 
the reading of his lesson, on the choice of words and 
of thoughts, as well as on the variety and the pleas- 
ingness of style. . . . He cultivated carefully the 
memory of his pupils by obliging them to recite — 
some more, some less — the most beautiful passages 

1 " De Inst. Cier.," lib. iii., cap. 18. 



94 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

from the historians and poets commented upon in 
class ; and he always questioned them upon the 
lesson of the previous day. He exhorted them to 
confine their readings to what was good and edify- 
ing, and gave them a daily exercise to compose in 
prose and verse." ' 

This is an admirable method ; it cannot be im- 
proved upon even to-day, after the intervening 
experience of seven hundred years. Bernard of 
Chartres was an ideal teacher. In the following 
century the grammarians were not so painstaking. 
Both masters and scholars were impatient to tread 
the mazes of logical disputation ; in consequence, 
we find a falling off in the matter of style. " The 
youths of the universities, but ill-furnished with 
books, and be it said, but ill-disciplined, passed 
through the grammar classes rather unprofitably. 
They remained in them the least possible time, 
being attracted by the ever increasing vogue of 
Aristotle." 2 

We enter one of these grammar schools. The 
scholars are all in one room. Here is one coming 
from the master after reciting his lesson and having 
had his exercise corrected. He goes to his place, 
procures his tablets, a pen and ink and some parch- 
ment, and, seating himself at a long table running 
through the centre of the room, transcribes the cor- 
rected exercise upon a small sheet of parchment. 
The lettering is small and cramped ; the words are 



1 " Metalogicus," lib. i., cap. xxiv., col. 854, Migne ed. 

2 Ch. Daniel, S. J., "Des Etudes Classiques," chap. vi. 
p. 138. 



MEDIAE VA L UNI VERS I TY L IFE. 95 

abbreviated. You would like to know the meaning 
of the line inscribed in this manner : 
"Tityre tprstf." 

The teacher has been alluding to Virgil, and this 
is evidently a shorthand report of some line in that 
author's works. Here it is ; the word Tityre gives 
the clue : 

" Tityre, tu patulse recubans sub tegmine fagi." 

The youth next to him is taking notes in logic. 
He is evidently quoting an extract from Occham's 
logic in the following condensed form : " Sic hie e 
fal sm qd ad simply." Here is the text : " Sicut 
hie est fallacia secundum quid ad simpliciter." ' The 
less the scholars placed upon parchment, the more 
they engraved their lessons upon the tablets of 
memory. Moreover, paper and parchment were 
expensive commodities in those days and were, 
therefore, to be sparingly used. Even as late as 
1502 the amount of paper assigned to each scholar 
for the purpose of note-taking was three sheets a 
week. 2 

Let us pass to another school. This is the 
Place Maubert — which shall long continue to em- 
balm the name of Albert the Great. That dingy, 
humid street in the neighborhood is the street that 
Dante has made immortal in his great poem ; it is 
the rue de Fouarre. 3 It is not an inviting street to 
enter. From early morning it is the busiest and 
noisiest thoroughfare in Paris. The students regu- 

1 Vaughan, "Life of S. Thomas of Aquin," p. 199. 

2 Pasquier, " Recherches sur la France," t. i., p. 920. 

3 " Paradiso," x., 136-138. 



96 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

late their rising by the bells of the neighboring 
churches. The mass-bell of the Carmelites, whose 
convent you may notice on Place Maubert, gives 
the first signal at five o'clock. An hour later Notre 
Dame strikes Prime. 1 Then the student who boards 
out quits his den, and descending the stairs care- 
fully, takes his shortest course through the by-ways 
and alleys to the rue de Fouarre. He enters one 
of these low, ill-ventilated halls, with a damp, heavy 
smell. The master is seated on a stool ; it being a 
winter morning, three or four candles spread a dim 
light through the heavily laden air, and the stu- 
dents, seated upon small trusses of straw, take notes 
of the lecture read by the master. 2 We already 
had a glimpse of a school of arts ; then let us pass 
to a school of theology. 

The room is also low and dingy ; the light is 
inadequate. There are no benches ; but here and 
there are some blocks, and there is an abundance of 
straw. The master sits in a large chair raised on a 
platform. The chair has a high, straight back and 
arms, and can easily seat two. He who is beside 
the master is an aspirant for the licentiate. But 
the master predominates over the aspirant and over 
the school. 3 Now, note the method pursued. It 
is composed of two parts : the reading and expla- 
nation, and the disputation. All teaching is done 
orally. "The act of instructing by the living voice," 



1 Bulseus, " Hist. Univ. Paris," t. iv., p. 413. 

2 Alfred Franklin, " La Vie privee d' Autrefois; Eeoles et 
Colleges," p. 168. 

3 D'Assailly, "Albert le Grand," p. 186. 



MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 97 

says Vincent of Beauvais, " possesses I know not 
what hidden energy, and sounds more forcibly in 
the ears of a disciple as it passes from the mouth 
of a master." ' The master was at first accustomed 
to speak altogether without a manuscript; later in 
the history of the university, he read or dictated 
from his manuscript a commentary upon the text. 
But when, in 1354, Cardinal d'Estouteville reformed 
the university, he reverted to the practice of com- 
menting without manuscript. Indeed, the teacher 
was placed under oath not to read from a written 
commentary upon the text under discussion, lest 
he might cease to prepare his lessons properly. 

The master is now prepared to give his lesson. 
The " Sentences " lies open on his lap ; the students 
are seated around in groups ; some are kneeling 
upon one knee with tablets in hand, prepared to 
take notes ; some few have their own text-book, but 
the majority are content with getting a glance at 
the copy in the hall for their use. The master first 
reads a proposition from the Lombard. In a sub- 
dued voice and familiar tone, slightly ascending, 2 he 
discourses upon the proposition, the scholars in the 
meantime, as rapidly as possible, in that species of 
shorthand which we have already been inspecting, 
writing down the explanation. Hear how neatly 
he gives the reason for each division of the text, for 
each paragraph, for each sentence, for the terms 
employed, and note how clearly he makes the 



1 "Speculum Doctrinale," lib. 1., cap. 37. 

2 " De Disciplina Scholarium," cap. v., Migne ed., vol. 
lxiv., col. 1234. 

E. e.— 7 



98 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

consequences to flow therefrom. The master having 
ended his explanation, the students compare notes 
and settle upon the sense and the very words of the 
discourse that they have heard. Some teachers, 
more careful than others, in order to avoid mis- 
understanding, or a garbled version of what they 
had said, dictate their explanations. In 1492 it was 
made a general rule that the shorter morning class 
be devoted to dictation. 1 However, in the thir- 
teenth century, the master whose lessons we are 
attending was content with explaining the text by 
a running commentary, leaving the students to 
carry away from the lesson as much as they could 
or as they cared to reproduce. The following was 
the method set down in the Oxford statutes : 

"The masters shall read the text in order; then 
they shall explain it fully and openly as the matter 
requires. The explanation being duly arranged, 
they shall afterwards choose notable passages from 
the text to be remembered. Lastly, they shall raise 
points for discussion, but only such as naturally arise 
from the text, so that no prohibited matter be 
taught." 2 

However, the chief element of university train- 
ing was not the lecture ; it was rather the disputa- 
tion. Master disputed with master before the 
students ; the master disputed with his scholars ; the 
scholars disputed with one another under the su- 
pervision of a determinant who was present to re- 
press quarrels, correct errors, prevent disputes from 



1 Du Boulay, "Hist. Univ. Par.," t. v., p. 808. 

2 "Munimenta Academica," vol. i., p. 288. 



MEDIsE VA L UNI VERS I TV L IFE . 99 

degenerating into personalities, and mark the in- 
dolent ones refusing to take part in the debate. The 
exercise was at times abused by teacher and pupils. 
Propositions were discussed apart from their con- 
nection ; distinctions were made and divisions and 
subdivisions were entered into with a degree of 
ingenuity that only such practice as was then prev- 
alent could achieve. This process of dialectic re- 
fining was carried to the farthest extremes. 

Thus Stephen Langton, who is known in history 
as the champion of English liberties, was previously 
known in Paris as a student whose work was no less 
solid than brilliant ; one of the most enlightened 
expounders of the Scriptures, and a powerful 
preacher, with a strong musical voice that could 
reach any audience. Even Stephen Langton could 
not resist the prevailing practice of refining thought 
and seeking a new meaning for simple words. And 
so we find him taking a well-known love ditty of his 
day, — Belle Aaliz mains sen leva, — and with a view 
of turning bad into good, writing a commentary 
upon it, giving it an allegorical and spiritual sense. 1 
Each professor sought to excel his rival in logical 
distinctions, divisions and subdivisions. Each stu- 
dent vied with the other to pick flaws in his argu- 
ments ; each sought to overwhelm the other and 
confuse his mind by subtle distinctions beyond his 
grasp. There was no exemption. 



1 He makes Alice the Blessed Virgin, and thus speaks of 
the name : 

Hoc enim Aalis dicitur ah a, quod est sine, et lis, litis; 
quasi sine life, sine reprehensione. — "Bihliotheque Nationale " 
MSS., lat., 16,497. 



100 ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

In Oxford, in 1396, a certain friar from Ireland 
having omitted a single disputation in his year of 
opponency was refused permission to read "The 
Sentences." ("Mun. Acad.," p. 236.) No other 
road was open to the winning of honors ; therefore 
should each be on the alert to answer every objec- 
tion with all the vim possible. Should one refuse 
to take part in the debate, his silence would be im- 
puted to ignorance or arrogance. 1 Disputation was 
the great field of triumph, and in consequence the 
greater part of the day was spent in disputation. 

What was the daily regulation of university 
life? We may outline it as follows : The first lesson, 
as has been seen, was given in the morning early. 
The students then withdrew and arranged the 
matter of the last lesson, or prepared for the next, 
until the hour for dinner, which was generally at 
ten o'clock. At noon they carried on disputations, 
which, from the hour, were known as meridionals. 
At five there were repetitions of lessons and confer- 
ences, during which the scholars recited and 
answered questions put by the master. On Satur- 
days they had recapitulations and repetitions of the 
lessons given during the week. These were solemnly 
carried out under the supervision of the chief master 
of the school. 

There has been preserved for us a daily regula- 
tion of college life in Cambridge, which, though 
mentioned by Lever in the sixteenth century, runs 
back among college traditions as far as the memory 

1 "De Disciplina Scholarium," cap. iv., Migne ed., 
col. 1234. 



MEDIAEVAL UNIVERSITY LIFE. 101 

of man goeth. We shall put it in the words in 
which Cardinal Newman expressed it: 

The student " got up between four and five ; 
from five to six he assisted at mass and heard an 
exhortation. He then studied and attended the 
schools till ten, which was the dinner hour. The 
meal, which seems also to have been a breakfast, was 
not sumptuous; it consisted of beef in small messes 
for four persons, 1 and a pottage made of its gravy 
and oatmeal. From dinner to five p. m., he either 
studied or gave instruction to others, when he went 
to supper, which was the principal meal of the day, 
though scarcely more plentiful than dinner. After- 
wards, problems were discussed and other studies 
pursued till nine or ten, and then half an hour was 
devoted to walking or running about, that they 
might not go to bed with cold feet, — the expedient 
of heat or stove for the purpose was out of the ques- 
tion." a 

But we are here trenching upon college discipline 
and college methods in the universities, a subject 
that shall claim our attention in another article. In 
the meantime, let us beware of losing sight of the 
true proportions of mediaeval universities in our 
eagerness to pry into details concerning them. 
Looked at in their historical setting, they stand out 
among the greatest creations of the spirit of Chris- 
tian truth. They were the institutions of highest 
culture, the centres whence radiated the latest word 
in science and the most advanced wave of thought. 

1 " A penny piece of beef among four," is Lever's expres- 
sion. Sermon preached at Paules Crosse, Arber's Reprints, 
vol. iii., pp. 121, 122. 

2 "On Universities," pp. 330, 331. 



aNIYERSlTY COLLEGES: THEIR ORI- 
GIN AND THEIR METHODS 



(103) 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES: THEIR ORIGIN 
AND THEIR METHODS. 1 



i% 



I. 

COMPAYRE concludes the preface to his 
new volume in the following words : 

"I trust also, that the literary dictionaries of the 
future, if they should grant me a place in their 
pages, will have the goodness when they mention 
my name to follow it with this notice : Gabriel 
Compayre, a French writer, whose least mediocre 
work, translated into English before being printed, 
was published in America." 

We shall add to this notice : The book of which 
M. Compayre seems to be so proud is called " Abe- 
lard," and yet all that the author has to say about 
Abelard is confined to twenty-five pages. The book 
really covers the same ground as Mr. Laurie's work, 
"The Rise and Constitution of Universities," and 
is therefore misnamed. The subject was one upon 
which the author could make a particularly bright 
book. 



1 "Abelard and the Origin and Early History of Universi- 
ties." By Gabriel Compayre. New York. 1893. " La Sor- 
bonne, ses Origines et sa Bibliotheque." Par Alfred Franklin. 
Paris. 1875. " The University of Cambridge, from the Earli- 
est Times to the Royal Injunctions of 1535." By J. Bass 
Mullinger. Cambridge. 1873. " A History of the University 
of Oxford, from the Earliest Times to the Year 1530." Bv 1 [. 
C. Maxwell Lyte. London. 1886. "De Studiis Literariis 
Mediolanensum." Auctore Joseph Antonio Saxis. Milan. 1729. 

(105) 



106 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

Abelard's life, his teachers, his contemporaries, 
the schools in which he studied, the schools in 
which he taught, his pupils and his disciples, his 
doctrines, his methods, his persecutions, his influ- 
ence — here is matter enough for so many interesting 
chapters, in which the author need not go over the 
ground so well tilled by the classic work of M. 
Remusat. This is the kind of book we had a right 
to expect from the title. And we fail to see the 
intimate connection between Abelard and the Uni- 
versity of Paris which the author would establish. 
Abelard is in no sense its founder. He was to no 
greater extent its forerunner than was his teacher, 
William of Champeux. Abelard was a brilliant 
meteor who crossed the welkin of the twelfth cen- 
tury, throwing around him a lurid glare, awaking 
minds and creating excitement ; restless, active, 
superficial, pretentious, bold, with sharpened intel- 
lect and a perennial flow of language. But in no 
sense can the university be traced to him. Had he 
never lived the university would have grown into 
corporate existence scarce a day later. There were 
scholastic disputations before his day ; he may have 
systematized them more than formerly, but he did 
not create them. His learning was not at all com- 
mensurate with his fame. 

M. Compayre may be a good professor ; he cer- 
tainly is not an apt scholar. When in 1877 he 
wrote the first book that brought him into noto- 
riety — " Histoire Critique des Doctrines de l'Educa- 
tion en France Depuis le Seizieme Siecle " — he 
showed no less a decided proclivity to draw from 



UNIVERSITT COLLEGES. 107 

sources that confirmed his prejudices, than great 
repugnance towards any authority at all favorable 
to the school or the system he would condemn. 
This method of quotation at second-hand led him 
into very questionable company. He accepted in- 
formation from sources the most valueless, and in 
consequence was led into blunders that would 
shame a schoolboy. Witness the following asser- 
tion concerning the Jesuits : 

" In metaphysics they suppress some of the 
questions the most interesting and the most essen- 
tial, as for instance all that regards the existence 
of God and the nature of His attributes." J 

How came he to make this statement? He 
found a misrepresenting translation of the Constitu- 
tions and Declarations of the Jesuits with a hostile 
appendix, containing garbled extracts from the 
rules of this distinguished body, and among others, 
he read these words : In metaphysica questiones de 
Deo et Intelligentiis prater eantnr. Now in a footnote 
M. Compayre avers that he has before him two 
complete editions of the " Ratio Studiorum." 
Had he opened either of them, he would have 
found a prohibition to touch upon those questions 
concerning God and His angels in metaphysical 
discussions, which depend wholly or in great meas- 
ure upon revelation, and which therefore belong 
to the domain of faith. 2 Pere Daniel called his 



lii Hist. Crit.," t. i., p. 196. 

2 Iti Metaphysica, questiones de Deo et Intelligentiis, quce 
omnino aut magnofere pendent ex veritatibus divina fide rev- 
elatis, prectercantur. 



108 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

attention to this and other blunders only a little 
less glaring. 1 

Now, to what degree has M. Compayre profited 
by this lesson? Let the reader judge from the fol- 
lowing extract : 

" Thomas Aquinas had composed the ' De 
regimine principum,' and the ' De eruditione prin- 
cipum.' His disciple, Gilles de Rome, Archbishop 
of Bruges, who was tutor to Philip the Fair, also 
followed Aristotle in politics." 2 

True it is that both the volumes here named are to 
be found among the collected books of the Angelical 
Doctor, but it is generally considered that only two 
books of the first-named have been written by 
Thomas, while the latter work is now universally 
attributed to the pen of Peraldus, or William of 
Perault. Where has M. Compayre" picked up the 
information here so loosely expressed? Surely not 
from the works themselves. Even the " Histoire 
Litteraire " loosely written as it is in regard to these 
books, would have enlightened the author and 
guided his pen to greater accuracy. 

Later on, we shall refer to them for another pur- 
pose than to express a platitude about the " Poli- 
tics" of Aristotle. There is not a clause or phrase 
in the paragraph from which we quote that does not 
betray complete ignorance of the subject treated. 
Now, why will M. Compayre to-day, as sixteen years 
ago, accept such inferior material and impose it on 
his readers as something worthy of their intelli- 



1 " Les Jesuites Instituteurs de la Jeunesse Francaise." i88( 

2 "Abelard," p. 290. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 109 

gence? After the wholesome lesson of Pere Daniel 
one would think that he would be more cautious. It 
is just such paragraphs as this that render M. Com- 
payre's book unworthy of a permanent place in 
literature, and undeserving of the niche he so mod- 
estly looks for. However, the author could not 
write an altogether worthless book, nor could he be 
dull if he tried. 

And when one begins to realize that one is read- 
ing a book not on Abelard, but on the mediaeval 
universities, one finds much to admire and commend 
in the sketch. The style is picturesque and bril- 
liant ; the outline is clearly traced ; the whole sub- 
ject is cleverly handled. One is enabled to form a 
fair conception of the mediaeval university life from 
a perusal of the book. In this regard and to this 
extent may the book be commended. The ordinary 
reader may not observe the note of triumph with 
which the author records every step towards the 
secularization of the university; he may pass over 
the antipathy to celibacy that is evinced through 
the pages of the little work; he may forget that the 
author has overlooked, or treated inadequately, the 
influence of the religious orders upon university life ; 
and when he has finished the perusal of the book, 
it may never occur to him that the very elements 
which the author ignores or belittles are the soul of 
the universities. With the extinction of these ele- 
ments began the decay of the universities. 



HO ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

II. 

Turn we now to university college life. It brings 
us a step nearer to modern school life. With the ad- 
vance of the thirteenth century lawlessness grew more 
and more among university students. They were im- 
posed upon, in spite of ordinance and statute, by the 
townspeople with whom they boarded ; they were fre- 
quently in the hands of Jews paying exorbitant in- 
terest on moneys loaned ; they were daily exposed to 
become the victims of lewd men and women who were 
continually on the watch for new victims. Theirs was 
in many instances a life of hardships that was sus- 
tained chiefly by the buoyancy of youth and an in- 
satiable thirst for knowledge. In the meantime, the 
regular clergy had schools of order and discipline in 
which youths were well cared for and jealously 
shielded from the trials and temptations that were 
constantly assailing the student quartered upon the 
town. The shining lights of their respective orders 
lectured in the university and attracted around them 
youths who from admiring their professors came to 
love their life of peace and quiet and religious disci- 
pline, and ultimately sought admission as members. 
These youths were generally of bright promise and 
good family. And so, Carmelite and Augustinian, 
Franciscan and Dominican — especially the last two — 
gathered into their novitiates the flower of mediaeval 
youth. Men dreaded sending their sons to Oxford 
lest they become friars. 

In 1358, it was enacted that if any mendicant friar 
shall induce or cause to be induced any member of 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. \\\ 

the university under eighteen years of age to join the 
said friars, or shall in any way assist at their abduc- 
tion, no graduate belonging to the cloister or society 
of which such friar is a member, shall be permitted 
to give or attend lectures in Oxford or elsewhere for 
the ensuing year. 1 Richard Fitzralph, Archbishop of 
Armagh, who bore the friars no more love than did his 
disciple, John Wyclif, tells how the friars of Oxford 
carried off an Englishman's son, then under thirteen 
years, and how the father was not permitted to speak 
to his boy except in the presence of the friars. The 
father was then in Avignon, bringing the case to the 
notice of the pope. 2 But long before this note of 
alarm was sounded religious cloisters were the only 
havens of security amid the turmoil of university life. 
Not that the need of safeguarding the student 
was not felt by the authorities, but all the universi- 
ties in their early days were poor. Neither Paris nor 
Oxford up to the middle of the thirteenth century 
possessed a building that it could call its own. 
The schools and halls were rented, or were granted 
by the religious orders, or even by the townspeople. 
The official dinners of the Masters of Arts were 
given at the common taverns of the town. So, at 
Oxford in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries 
the Faculty of Arts used to assemble in the Church 
of St. Mildred, while degrees were granted and other 
secular business was, by sufferance, transacted in 
the Chu rch of St. Mary the Virgin. 3 

1 "Munimenta Academica," i., p. 205 . This statute was 
afterwards repealed. Cooper, "Annals," i., p. 109. 

2 "A History of the University of Oxford," p. 174. 

3 Lyte, "A History of the University of Oxford," p. 98. 



112 BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

Still, even at the dawn of university life, we dis- 
cern traces of efforts made to assist and protect 
poor youth. There is a tradition that the Danish 
College was established as early as 1030, with endow^ 
ment for one hundred and thirty poor clerks. In 
1 187, Robert de Dreux, brother of Louis VII. of 
France, founded in Paris a house of prayer and a 
house of studies under the patronage of St. Thomas 
of Canterbury. Again, we read that in 1180, Joce 
of London, on his return from Jerusalem, endowed 
a room in the Hotel Dieu, in which eighteen stud- 
ents might be lodged. The college was afterwards 
transferred to the square of Notre Dame, still re- 
taining its name of Maison des Dix-Huits. 1 The 
primary object of these and similar institutions was 
simply to afford shelter and protection to the schol- 
ars. There was no intention of making them institu- 
tions of learning. Indeed, we may trace their begin- 
ning to the hostel in which certain licensed masters 
were wont to keep students at moderate terms. 

"The hostel of the English universities in former 
times," says Mullinger, " may be defined as a lodg- 
ing house under the rule of a principal, whose stud- 
ents resided at their own cost. ... It offered no 
pecuniary aid, but simply freedom from extortion, 
and a residence where quiet would be insured and 
some discipline enforced ; advantages, however, of 
no small rarity in that turbulent age." 2 

Then hostels or inns were comparatively few and 
wholly inadequate for the numbers that flocked to 



1 Lebeuf, "Histoire de la Ville et tout le Diocese de Paris, 5 
t. ii., pp. 129, 130. 

2 "The University of Cambridge," i., p. 217. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 113 

the universities. It was but in the beginning of the 
fifteenth century that Oxford was in condition to 
forbid clerks from lodging in the houses of laymen. 1 

In the meantime, it became evident that, while 
the mendicant orders were flourishing and absorb- 
ing the best talent in the universities both among 
masters and students, the secular clergy were decay^ 
ing. How else could it be, considering the dangers 
to which youths were exposed upon their entrance 
into university life? Take those who flocked to 
Paris. They were badly lodged and poorly fed ; their 
clothes and books were exposed to pillage; usually, 
at an early stage of their entry into Paris they were 
relieved of their money. In spite of the vigilance 
of the officers of the nation under which their names 
were inscribed, they were cheated, robbed, imposed 
upon at every turn. The townspeople regarded 
them as legitimate prey. 2 Designing men and 
women pursued them, and set snares for them, and 
made them victims of their wiles till the last penny 
was extracted. 

Many a fond father, in his desire to see an apt 
son become a learned clerk on the road to prefer- 
ment and distinction, impoverished his family that 
the favored son might have sufficient means to live 
in Paris, and to find that son return one day rich in 
well-bought experience, but poor in all else. Rute- 
beuf describes such a typical young man. His 
father sells some of the patrimony in order to equip 



1 Lyte, "A History of the University of Oxford," p. 69. 

2 Ch. Jourdain, "Excursions a travers le moyen age," p. 
2 49- 

E. E— S 



114 JESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

him for the university. The youth goes to Paris, 
falls into bad company, is soon rid of all that he 
had brought with him — even his ambition to study 
— and his " money gone and his clothes worn out, 
he has to start life anew." 

" Ces argens faux et sa robe usee; 
Or tout est a recommencer." l 

Such experiences set men thinking. Why could 
not the poor youths struggling under so many dif- 
ficulties to enter the secular priesthood find some of 
that shelter and care that was so lavishly bestowed 
upon the candidates for religious life? This ques- 
tion occupied the mind of Robert Sorbon, the pious 
and learned confessor to Louis IX. In 1256, with 
the assistance of the saintly king and of several 
wealthy ecclesiastics about the court, he founded an 
institution in which youths aspiring to the secular 
priesthood might be housed and fed and their studies 
superintended. This institution was from the be- 
ginning especially designed for a nursery of theology. 
Burses were established for sixteen students, four 
from each nation. These youths led a life of econ- 
omy and regularity. Everything in and about the 
house was poor. "Poverty," says Crevier, "was 
the peculiar attribute of the house of Sorbonne, 
and for a long time it preserved the reality with the 
title." 2 Under royal sanction and papal blessing the 
institution flourished, and when Robert died, in 1274, 

1 " Le Dis de l'Universite de Paris," t. i., p. 185. The same 
experiences are still bought at the same price. See Alphonse 
Daudet's "Sappho." 

2 " Histoire de l'Universite de Paris," i., pp. 494, 495. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 115 

the Sorbonne had already become the headquarters 
of the faculty of theology. 1 

The regulations that Robert drew up and applied 
during the twenty years that he governed the insti- 
tution prove his wisdom and practical good sense. 
They remained in vogue until in 1790, the Sorbonne 
went under in the catastrophe of that year. Robert 
established a preparatory school, and the students 
were admitted to the college only after receiving 
their bachelor's degree, maintaining a thesis called 
after the founder, a Robertine, and obtaining a 
majority of votes after three ballotings. 

There were two classes of members — the guests 
and the fellows. The guests — Jwspites — were pro- 
vided with every facility for study, but they took 
no part in the administration of the house. They 
were permitted to study in the library, but were not 
entrusted with the key. They were obliged to 
leave, in order to give place to others, as soon as 
they had received the doctor's degree. The fellows 
— socii — had more privileges. They shared in the 
administration of affairs. Absolute equality reigned 
among them. Those who were rich paid to the 
establishment a sum equivalent to the amount re- 
ceived by the bursars. The prior was chosen from 
among the youngest fellows, and he remained one 
year in charge. From amongst the most ancient 
four seniors were chosen. Their duty was to man- 
age difficult affairs and maintain ancient customs. 
The fellows met once a month to discuss all matters 
of administration. Robert placed the Sorbonne 

1 A. F. Franklin, "La Sorbonne," p. 16. 



116 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
but from the fourteenth century we find its patron 
saint to have been St. Ursula. 1 

The pious founder appreciated the value of a good 
library in those days when books were scarce and ex- 
pensive. " He was careful," we are told, "to collect 
in his college all books necessary for theologians and 
to install a library." 3 At his death he bequeathed to 
the college all his books, including the splendid folio 
Bible inscribed in 1270 and supposed to have been 
presented to him by Louis IX. 3 In 1289 the library 
was properly organized. It was divided into two 
parts. One was called the large library — magna li- 
braria — and included the works which were the most 
frequently made use of; these were chained, and rare 
and exceptionable were the occasions when it was 
permitted to remove them. The other part was 
called the little library — parva libraria — and con- 
tained all duplicates and works rarely consulted, 
which might be loaned upon a deposit of a certain sum 
of money or any article of sufficient value to cover 
the cost of the book. In 1290 the whole library con- 
tained 1017 volumes, among which is the " Romance 
of the Rose," the only book in French mentioned. 
A beautiful feature of charity in those days was the 
bequeathing of libraries for the use of poor students. 
Thus we read that Gerard d'Abbeville, in 1270, be- 
queathed not only to the students of the Sorbonne 

1 Lebeuf, " Histoire de la Ville et du Diocese de Paris," 
t. i., pp. 240, sqq. 

2 Ladvocat, " Dictionnaire Historique," Art., Sorbon. 

3 This is now No. 15,467 among the MSS. fonds Latin, in 
the Bibliotheque Nationale. 



UNIVERSITT COLLEGES. 117 

but to all lettered seculars his theological works. 
In the following year, Stephen, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, left his books to the Church of Notre 
Dame with the intention that they be placed at the 
disposition of poor scholars who should find use for 
them in pursuing their studies. 1 

The counsels that Robert left the students were 
no less valuable. They were unearthed not many 
years ago, and as they throw light upon college life 
in that day it may not be amiss to condense them : 

"The scholar," he says, "who would study with 
profit should observe the following rules : First, to 
dedicate a certain hour to a specific piece of reading. 
Secondly, to fix attention upon what he -is about to 
read, and not to pass lightly to something else. 
1 There is,' says St. Bernard, ' the same difference 
between reading and studying as exists between 
a host and a friend, between a greeting exchanged 
on the street and an unalterable affection. ' Thirdly, 
to extract each day from our reading some thought, 
some grain of truth, and to engrave it on the 
memory with special care. Fourthly, to write out 
an epitome of what one has read, for the words not 
confined to writing fly like dust before the wind. 
Fifthly, to confer with one's companions in the dis- 
putations or in familiar conversation. This practice 
is even of greater service than reading, because it 
results in clearing up all doubts and the obscurities 
that may have remained after reading. Nihil per- 
fect l e scititr, nisi dente disputationis finiatur. Sixthly, 
to pray. In point of fact, prayer is one of the best 
means of learning. St. Bernard teaches that read- 
ing should excite the affections of the soul, and that 
it should be a means of elevating the heart to God 
without interrupting study." 

1 Franklin, "La Vie Privee," p. 84. 



118 ESSA2~S EDUCATIONAL. 

This pious doctor cautions young men against 
wasting their time upon trifles. His words throw 
light upon one of the greatest weaknesses of medi- 
aeval university life. 

" Certain scholars," he says, "act like fools. 
They put forth great subtlety in trifles and prove 
themselves void of intelligence in important mat- 
ters. In order to make it appear that they have 
not lost their time, they form thick volumes of 
parchment filled with blank pages and have them 
covered in elegant red skin binding. They after- 
wards return to the paternal roof with a sackful of 
science that can be stolen by robbers, devoured by 
rats and worms, or destroyed by fire or water." 

With his eye upon that class of students who do 
not put their knowledge to good use, he also says : 

" Grammar forges the sword of the Word of 
God ; rhetoric polishes it ; finally, theology makes 
use of it. Some there are who unceasingly learn to 
make that sword, to sharpen its edges, and by dint 
of whetting to wear it all away. Others keep it 
entirely confined to its scabbard ; when they would 
draw it forth they find that they have grown old, 
the iron has rusted, and they can no longer effect 
anything. As for those who study solely with the 
intention of reaching high places in the Church, 
they are greatly deceived, for they scarcely ever 
attain the objects of their ambition." ' 

These counsels were solid and timely. They left 
their impress upon the college. A certain number 
of doctors applied themselves exclusively to the 
solution of cases of conscience. With practice came 
skill, and in the course of time people from all 

1 "Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat.," 15,971, fol. 197, sqq. ; Le foy de 
la Marche, "Le Treizieme Siecle," pp. 50-52. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 119 

parts of Europe were wont to send delicate cases 
for solution, and thus did the Sorbonne come to be 
regarded as the greatest authority in Christendom 
in solving moral problems. It was consulted by 
king and pope. 

During the latter half of the thirteenth century, 
colleges multiplied. In 1262, Walter de Merton, 
then Lord Chancellor of England under Henry III., 
obtained a license to assign certain manors for the 
maintenance of clerks studying in the schools of 
Oxford. 1 His main object was to secure for the 
secular priesthood the academical benefits which 
the religious orders were so largely enjoying. " He 
borrowed from the monastic institutions the idea of 
an aggregate body living by common rule, under a 
common head, provided with all things needful for 
a corporate and perpetual life, fed by its secured 
endowments, fenced from all external interference, 
except that of its lawful patron." 2 Thus was Mer- 
ton the first to achieve for the secular priesthood in 
Oxford what Robert of Sorbon succeeded in doing 
for the same order in Paris. The motives actuating 
these founders were the same ; the regulations en, 
forced are alike in many details. 

At Merton, as in the Sorbonne, the students 
were to be thoroughly grounded in the liberal arts 
and in philosophy before being permitted to study 
theology or canon law. Theology is the main ob- 
ject of the foundation of Merton as well as of the 



1 Lyte, " A History of Oxford University," p. 73. 

2 Edmund, Bishop of Nelson, " Sketch of the Life of 
Walter de Merton," p. 22. 



120 ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

Sorbonne ; but in Merton a few were permitted to 
study canon law and as much civil law as was 
needed to throw light upon the canons. Poor boys 
of the founder's kin, to the number of thirteen, 
received a free preliminary education in which they 
were to be qualified for scholarships. " While he 
provides for a good liberal education, and a general 
grounding in all subsidiary knowledge, he jealously 
guards his main object of theological study both 
from being attempted too early by the half-edu- 
cated boy, and from being abandoned too soon for 
the temptations of something more profitable." ! It 
is designed that one of the fellows shall make a 
special study of grammar, that he shall devote him- 
self expressly to that subject, "that he shall be pro- 
vided with all the necessary books, and shall regu- 
larly instruct the younger students, while the more 
advanced students are to have the benefit of his 
assistance when occasion may require." 2 

Other portions of the statutes were evidently 
inspired by monastic rules. Each scholar was sub- 
jected to a year's probation before becoming a 
permanent member of the society. 3 A spirit of 
fellowship and equality was cultivated. The stu- 
dents wore a uniform. All dined and supped 
together while one of them read an edifying book 
in Latin. They had a share in government and 
management. The eldest in a dormitory was known 
as the dean, and presided at the rising and retiring. 

1 Bishop of Nelson, " Life of Walter de Merton," p. 22. 

2 Mullinger, "The University of Cambridge," p. 168. 
8 Statutes, ,Ed. Percival, p. 20, 



UNIVERS1T1' COLLEGES. 121 

Three of the fellows acted as bursars, and five as 
auditors of accounts. Three times a year there was 
a general scrutiny of conduct, when the behavior of 
each inmate was minutely examined and all griev- 
ances were ventilated. Should any scholar accept 
a benefice or enter a religious order, he was obliged 
to vacate his place. 1 All were required to attend 
the communications of benefactors three times a 
year. 

In 1280 the bequest left by William of Durham, 
was employed to establish University Hall, and 
other benefactions enabled the Hall to own a library 
from which booksf might be borrowed. The disci- 
pline was severe. Disputations were held in the 
house as well as in the schools. No book was lent 
out of the house without a deposit of more value 
than the book, and consent of all the scholars. The 
scholars were allowed to use a common seal. It 
was enjoined upon them to live honestly as clerks, 
in a manner befitting saints, not fighting, not using 
scurrilous or foul language, nor reciting, singing or 
willingly hearing songs or tales of an amatory or in- 
decent character, not taunting or provoking one 
another to anger, and not shouting so as to disturb 
the studies or repose of the industrious. 2 

The statutes of Balliol, given in 1282, breathe the 
same spirit, and no doubt were suggested by the 
Franciscan confessor of Dermguilla. The principal 
was elected by the scholars from among themselves. 



1 Lyte, " Hist. Oxford," p. 78. 

2 " Munimenta Academica," Statutes of William of 
Durham, i., pp. 56-61. 



122 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

The scholars were to attend lectures daily and hold 
fortnightly disputation in their own house. They 
were to attend services in the parish church on Sun- 
days and hear the sermon. If the weekly allowance 
were not sufficient the richer scholars were levied 
upon to make up the deficiency, and should any 
grumble they were expelled. The food that re- 
mained after a meal was to be given to some poor 
scholars. 1 

The Sorbonne in Paris and Merton in Oxford 
were the types after which all mediaeval colleges 
were erected. But it took three hundred years 
to mature the collegiate system. It was only 
about 1550 that it became predominant. The col- 
lege of Walter de Merton was for some time looked 
upon with suspicion, as a dangerous experiment. 
In the meantime, there were established boarding- 
houses for students having no burses, but able to 
pay their way. 

Laymen at first rented chambers from the rector 
of the university, and prepared some students in 
private. Finding the practice lucrative, they en- 
larged their field of operations. These houses be- 
came very numerous and were known as pedagogics. 
They were encouraged and were considered far bet- 
ter than the miserable, dingy, close, ill-ventilated 
holes and dens into which students were thrust by 
the townspeople in various parts of the city. But 
with time the pedagogics abused their position.- 
They neglected the moral and religious training of 
the youths confided to them, regarding them as 

1 Lyte, 2, 86. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 123 

simply so many sources of income. Gerson accused 
these men of crass ignorance, negligence and immor- 
ality. Through fear of losing their pupils they 
would not correct and punish them. They took no 
pains to form their boarders to practices of piety and 
decorum. These youths were as great strangers to 
the doctrines of Christianity as pagans themselves ; 
they behaved badly in church, even to the extent of 
annoying the preacher by interruptions, mockeries, 
hisses and whisperings. 1 

Cardinal d'Estouteville, when reforming the Uni- 
versity of Paris, was severe upon this class of men. 
He forbade them to run to the inns»and taverns in 
order to recruit their houses, and he would have them 
cease speculating upon the food and accommoda- 
tions of the students, ruling at the same time " that 
they ask only a just and moderate price for provis- 
ions according to their kind and season, and that 
the food be served up clean and wholesome." 3 In 
the latter organization of the university we distin- 
guish three classes of students. I. There were the 
students boarding outside ; two usually occupying 
the same room, and frequently the same bed. These 
were known as martinets — the chamberdekyns of Ox- 
ford — and were looked after by the regent. 2. 
There were the students under the pedagogues ; 
these were called camerists. 3. There were the col- 
lege students who boarded with the principal and 
were known simply as boarders. Those elderly 



1 " Opera," t. i., p. no. Letter written about the year 
1400. 

2 Du Boulay, " Hist, Univ. Paris," t. v., p. 572. 



124 . BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

students who passed from school to school and from 
branch to branch, seeming to have no definite aim 
in pursuing their studies, and indeed no other aim 
in life than to live and die students of the univer- 
sity — shiftless fellows without the ambition of ex- 
celling in anything — were called galockes. 1 In Eng- 
land, as the number of colleges increased the hotels 
declined, and were either merged in the colleges or 
disused. 2 

III. 

The colleges were at first regarded with suspicion, 
but as their numbers increased they became the ob- 
ject of special solicitude on the part of the univer- 
sity authorities. In Paris, the rector was in duty 
bound to visit each college at least once a month. 
After the seventeenth century, when the university 
was losing all hold upon the colleges, these visits 
became less frequent. But when they did occur 
they were made the occasion of great rejoicings for 
the students. " If the rector enters a college," says 
Pasquier, " there is no telling the joy with which he 
is welcomed and the acclamations with which he is 
received, evidences of the honor and respect in 
which he is held." 3 On these occasions the rector 
made his visitation in state walking through the city 
clothed in his scarlet cloak, preceded by two beadles 
bearing silver maces, and followed by Masters in Arts 
marching two by two in procession. 

1 Etienne Pasquier, " Recherches sur la France," liv. ix., 
chap., xvii. 

2 Robert Potts, " Liber Cantabrigiensis," p. 177. 

3 " Recherches sur la France," liv. ix., chap. 22, t. i., p. 937. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 125 

Cardinal d'Estouteville, in 1452, empowered the 
rector to convoke the four nations in order to elect 
four regents to whom he might delegate this mission 
of visiting the colleges, inns, and pedagogics, and 
whose duty it was to ascertain the morals, disci- 
pline, teaching, and food of each, and with the aid 
of the bishop to reform whatever called for reforma- 
tion. 1 

It were a long and tedious task to trace the story 
of the relations of the colleges with their university. 
Suffice it to say that these colleges were established 
rather as places in which poor scholars were supplied 
with board and lodging than as schools for purposes 
of instruction. The principal at first conducted the 
students to the lecture hall of the professor, and led 
them back to the college in a body. Here, with the 
aid of assistants, he superintended their studies, 
started disputations, occasionally heard the scholars 
recite, and thus profitably filled that portion of the 
day which was not spent in attending lectures. 
But seeing that this passing to and fro was an occasion 
of disorder and entailed considerable loss of time, 
the masters, as soon as students became numerous 
enough, at first privately lectured in the colleges. 
These lectures afterward became recognized by the 
university authorities. " We do not exactly know," 
says Du Boulay, " when this practice began ; it is 
generally thought that the College of Navarre, which 
was reformed in the year 1464, was the first to open 
its gates to these public professors of letters." ' 

1 Bulaeus, " Hist. Univ. Par.," t. v., p. 570. 

2 " Hist. Univ. Par.," in loc cit. 



126 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

And so these institutions grew from their first 
lowly and unpretentious beginning to be themselves 
centres of light. Their daily regulation will give 
clearer insight into college-life than could a lengthy 
description : 

At 4 o'clock, rising. The students were awakened by a 
member of the philosophy class, who went around the dormi- 
tory to arouse those who gave a deaf ear to the bell, and to 
light the candles at the season when candles were needed. 

At 5, the same member saw that the scholars were placed 
in order around the halls. During the hour from 5 to 6 the 
regents gave their first lesson. 

At 6 o'clock, breakfast, which consisted of a small piece of 
bread. After breakfast there was rest, but no recreation. 

From 8 to 10, the principal lesson of the morning. 

From 10 to 11, discussion and argumentation. 

At 11, dinner, accompanied by reading of the Bible or lives 
of the saints. The chaplain said the prayers before and after 
meals, made mementoes of benefactors, and added thereto pious 
exhortations. The principal took up the work, gave admoni- 
tions, distributed praise or blame among the students, and 
announced the punishments and corrections determined upon 
the evening previous. 

From 12 to 2, revision and interrogation regarding the 
morning's lessons. 

From 2 to 3, repose, when there was public reading of some 
poet or orator — ne diabolus hominem invent at otiosum. 

From 3 to 5, the principal lesson of the afternoon. 

From 5 to 6, discussion and argumentation upon the lesson 
just attended. 

At 6, supper. 

At 6.30, questionings upon the lessons of the day. 

At 7.30, complin and benediction. 

At 8 in winter and 9 in summer, bedtime. 

Masters and pupils authorized to do so might 
keep the candle burning till 11 o'clock. The wild 
and unrestrained manners of the students became 
softened by theatrical representations within the 
colleges, and by outdoor sports and promenades. 
In the afternoons of Tuesdays and Thursdays the 
students were given free time, when they were per- 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 127 

mitted to walk to the Pres-aux-clercs. Long prome- 
nades into the country were made with great pomp 
and ceremony. Besides the Landit, there were 
certain annual ones that were carefully observed. 
Such were the promenades of Notre Dame des 
Vignes, Notre Dame des Champs, and a grand 
promenade in May, when the students, upon their 
return, assembled before the door of the rector and 
there planted a tree. 

From the regulations here given there were vari- 
ations. Thus, in the College of St. Barbe, free time 
was given only after the principal lesson of the after- 
noon had been gone through. 1 In other schools the 
whole of Thursday was given to recreation. 2 Feast 
days were numerous, but they were not idled away. 
They were passed in devotions and in studies out- 
side the university programme, according to the 
taste of each student. No leave of absence was 
granted upon the feast days. An often-mooted ques- 
tion was what constituted servile work for a student 
on Sunday. Burand de Champagne, in the begin- 
ning of the fourteenth century, decided that schol- 
ars were not permitted to make complete copies of 
their notes nor to hire out their labor by transcrib- 
ing for others, but they might enter notes of lessons 
to preserve the memory of them, as well as of ser- 
mons taken down with the stylus. 3 The students 
were allowed to go home during the month of 



1 J. Quickerat, " Ilistoire de Sainte Barbe," t. i., ch. x., pp. 
83 sqq. 

2 Noel du Fail, " CEuvres," t. ii., p. 186. 

3 " Histoire Litteraire de la Franco," vol. xxx., p. 302. 



128 BSSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

September. This period was the vintage-time — les 
vendanges. The term " vacation " was confined to 
the three summer months, during which the supe- 
rior courses and examinations of the university were 
suspended. 

The tuition in the colleges was a variable quan- 
tity, and was regulated according to certain statutes 
of the university. It depended greatly upon the 
vintage and harvest. Each year it was definitely 
fixed by the rector, the deans of the four faculties, 
the principals of the colleges, and two Parisian 
merchants. 1 Another statute authorized the pro- 
fessors to receive from each scholar, without the 
exacting or naming of any amount on their part, 
five or six gold crowns towards the end of the 
school-year. 2 In the month of June, during the 
feast of Landit, each scholar offered his regent a 
lemon, upon the rind of which the golden crowns 
were arranged, the whole being placed in a crystal 
vase filled with sweetmeats. 3 At one time the 
pupils of the whole school, supplied with this offer- 
ing, marched in great pomp to the playing of fife 
and the beating of tambourine, and with formal 
ceremony presented them to the regents; but the 
custom was abolished in 1600. 4 

Few of the masters and regents were overbur- 
dened with wealth. The colleges, with rare excep- 
tions, retained the primitive spirit with which they 



1 Statutes, art. 67. 

2 Statutes, art. 32. 

3 Franklin, "La Vie Privee d'Autrefois," p. 216. 

4 Hazon, " Eloge Hist, de l'Universite de Paris," 1771. 



UNIVERSITT COLLEGES. 129 

were established. They continued to be sheltering 
schools for poor youths, conducted under the aus- 
pices of religion, and the impress of poverty re- 
mained stamped upon their rules, the food given 
and the customs handed down. Mr. Lyte, speaking 
of Oxford, says : " In its corporate capacity, the 
University was undoubtedly poor, and it had 
scarcely any funds applicable for general pur- 
poses." ] The principal and his assistants, in many 
of the Parisian schools, lived on a pittance of three 
or four sous a week, and were obliged to resort to 
other means to eke out a living. When Sir Thomas 
More, through reverse of fortune, found himself 
obliged to economize, he wrote to his wife: " But 
my counsel is that we fall not to the lowest fare 
first ; we will not, therefore, descend to Oxford 
fare." Oxford fare was the type of poor living. 
Poor scholars were wont to receive from the Chan- 
cellor a license to beg. 2 And Sir Thomas describes 
them, with bags and wallets, singing Salve Regina 
at rich men's doors. The poor students of Mon- 
taigu College went to the neighboring Chartreux 
Convent for their breakfast, awaiting their turn to 
be served with the other indigents. It is to be ob- 
served that not all college students were obliged to 
beg. There were two classes in every college, the 
rich, who paid for their maintenance, and the poor, 
who worked and begged for it. The meal of the 
junior students consisted of stale bread with half 
an ounce of butter, a plate of vegetables, half a 

1 " A History of the University of Oxford," p. 97. 

2 " Munimenta Academica, " ii., p. 684. 
E. K— 9 



130 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

herring, or an egg. The larger students, by reason 
of their age and prolonged labor, were allowed one- 
third of a pint of wine, a whole herring or two eggs, 
and a small piece of cheese or some fruit. They 
were never given meat. 1 The rigorous discipline 
and extreme abstinence practised in the College of 
Montaigu was proverbial, and intellect and appetite 
became equally keen with the name : 

" Mons acutus, ingenium acutum, dentes acuti." 

Erasmus could not find words severe enough 
to stigmatize the inhuman treatment and unwhole- 
some food that shattered his constitution and en- 
feebled him for life, while a student in this college. 2 
Rabelais has no kind words for the same institu- 
tion and its sparrow-hawks. Ponocrates denounces 
the cruelties practised thus: "Criminals and con- 
demned murderers are better treated." And he 
ends in this emphatic manner : " If I were King of 
Paris I would set fire to the place and burn up both 
principal and regents for permitting such inhuman- 
ity before their eyes." 3 Francion, in 1630, is no 
less severe as regards the fare doled out in the 
College of Lisieux. He considered the swineherds 
of his native town better nourished. "Withal," he 
says, " we were called gourmands, and we should 
put our hand in the dish each after the other. 
Those who ate sparingly were the favorites." In- 
deed, Francion's whole description shows that he 



1 Felibien, " Histoire de Paris," t. iii., p. 731. 

2 Dialogue, " Flesh and Fish." 

:! " Gargantua, " liv. i., chap, xxvii., pp. 119, 120. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 13J 

had fallen into the hands of a seventeenth century 
Squeers. 1 

But in order to be understood, mediaeval manners 
and customs are to be looked at with other eyes than 
those of the nineteenth century. Francis of Assisi, 
in making poverty his bride, idealized that virtue. 2 
His disciples sanctified and exalted begging and 
caused men to respect poverty. There was no hu- 
miliation in being poor; there was no personal degra- 
dation in asking an alms. Students no more lost 
their self-respect in begging for the house, or in doing 
menial service for their instructors, than did the page 
in waiting upon his master. This broad and elevated 
view of poverty established a brotherhood of feeling 
that inspired the better off to extend a helping hand 
to those less favorably circumstanced. The bursars 
of the college distributed their leavings to the poor 
scholars of their nation. Masters gave their pupils 
cast-off clothes and shoes. 8 This thoughtfulness ex- 
tended to their holidays. In 12 14, the commonalty 
of Oxford agreed to pay fifty-two shillings yearly for 
the use of poor scholars, and to give six hundred and 
fifty of them a meal of bread, ale, and pottage, with 
one large dish of flesh or fish on St. Nicholas Day. 4 
The poor students themselves resorted to many make- 
shifts that they might be enabled to pursue their 
studies. Sometimes they copied books and transcribed 



1 See A. F. Franklin, " La Vie Privee d' Autrefois; Ecoles 
et Colleges," pp. 223, 224. 

2 " Paradise," xi., 64-100. 

3 " De Disciplina Scholarium," cap. iv. 

4 "Anthony a Wood," i., p. 185. 



132 BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

notes ; sometimes they swept and garnished the rooms 
of a rich companion or an instructor to whom they 
attached themselves ; sometimes they kept their lodg- 
ing-house clean and orderly. Boys with good voices 
sang from door to door. This was the custom, even in 
Luther's day. 1 

The cost of instruction was in proportion to the 
pecuniary resources of each student. He who 
affirmed under oath that he had only sufficient to pay 
the expense of board and lodging was charged noth- 
ing for instruction. The education of youth ranked 
among the works of mercy, and indigent scholars 
were often thought of in men's last will and testa- 
ment. Chests or funds were established for their 
temporary relieL Whoever borrowed money from 
the chest established by the Countess of Warwick, in 
1293, was obliged to say the Paternoster thrice in 
honor of the Holy Trinity, and the Ave Maria five 
times in honor of the Blessed Virgin. 2 It must be 
said of the University of Paris, along the line of its 
whole career that there was a conspicuous lack of 
economy and forethought in money matters. Just 
as the bursars threw all surpluses into a common fund 
for the poor scholars, even so the excess of receipts 
over expenses was distributed among masters and 
bedels, and frequently drunk in the taverns. 3 Of 
course, in these matters, as in all else, there were ex- 
ceptions ; there were students who thought only of 



1 Schmidt, "Jean Sturm," p. 39. 

2 " Munimenta Academica," i., p. 63. 

3 Bulseus, "Hist. Univ. Par.," iv., 674; Thurot, "De l'Or- 

ganisation," 27. 



UNIVBRSITT COL LUCES. 133 

dress and display, and there were masters who ex- 
torted money from their students. 

The discipline, the exercises and pastimes of col- 
lege life in its good and its bad aspects have been 
faithfully sketched by Rabelais in his terrible satire. 1 
The colleges continued the traditions of the univer- 
sity schools in the observance of their holidays, 
games, amusements and customs. The newcomers 
into the college — bejaunes — were severely handled 
by the old pupils. They were terrorized into the 
performance of acts the most ridiculous or most 
dangerous, as suited the whims of their persecutors. 
Our modern hazing is a relic of these mediaeval days. 
In Germany the custom of formal initiation was 
somewhat in the following manner: The freshman 
was seized, arrayed in a garment of coarse stuff, and 
upon his head was placed a cap with horns or ass's 
ears. His companions then chased him around, 
and, having caught him, they pretended to clip his 
ears with shears, shave him with an axe and stab 
him with augurs of wood, in order, as an ancient 
author puts it, that the new student may learn to 
suppress the horns of vanity, smooth away the 
rough corners of his nature, and clear the ways 
to his intellect. The paraphernalia was afterwards 
deposited in the centre of the hall, to indicate 
that the student had now cast from him all those 
evil habits which made him like unto the brute. 
His hair was then cut. An enormous ear-pick was 
pointed towards his temple, to indicate that he 
should listen only to wise and discreet discourses. 

1 "Gargantua," liv. i., chaps, xvi-xxiv. 



134 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL 

A wild boar's tooth was extracted by means of long 
pincers ; the operation was intended to show that 
the student should keep clear of calumny and slan- 
der. His hands and nails were cleansed, as an em- 
blem to avoid all quarrels. A black beard was 
painted on his face, as an image of his entering 
upon the years of manhood and a warning to him 
to throw aside the things of childhood. A chorus 
was sung over him as an emblem of the harmony in 
which he should live. He went on his knees before 
those assisting at the ceremony, as a token of re- 
spect for authority. The horns having been taken 
off and laid aside symbolized the fact that the stu- 
dent was changed and rose up a new man. He was 
then given the wine of gaiety and the salt of wis- 
dom. Here ended the initiation, after which the 
student was received by his companions to the new 
life of study. 1 This mode of initiation was one of 
universal practice in the early days of university 
life; indeed, the tradition of it may be traced back 
to pagan times. St. Gregory Nazianzen speaks of 
a similar ceremony practiced in Athens in his day, 
in order, as he tells us, to take the pride out of the 
young men and render them docile. 2 

Before me lies an old engraving representing the 
process of initiation. The imprint is of 1666, but 
the scene was at least three hundred years old. Spec- 
tators are seated apart. Two subjects are upon the 



1 A. G. Strobel, "Histoire du Gymnase Protestant de Stras- 
bourg." Appendix, No. 8, p. 133. 

2 See Colin de Plancy, " Dictionnaire Feudale," t. i., pp. 
57, 58. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 135 

floor awaiting the good pleasure of their torturers. 
The horned caps are thrown to one side. A would-be 
executioner stands over them with a battle-axe lifted 
up in the act of striking. Behind this man is a youth 
subjected to some other stage of the initiation; in 
the background others are represented as being led 
into the hall, each accompanied by his executioner 
holding a mace. 1 In all these rites and ceremonies 
masters united with students. They were one in 
study, one in play, one even in the disorders that arose 
from time to time. 2 In this manner may we catch a 
glimpse of mediaeval college life far more instructive 
and suggestive than that revealed by charters and 
statutes. 

IV. 

Cardinal Newman sums up the relations of col- 
leges to universities in the following words : 

" At first universities were almost democracies ; 
colleges tended to break their anarchial spirit, intro- 
duced ranks and gave the example of laws, and 
trained up a set of students who, as being morally 
and intellectually superior to the members of the 
academical body, became the depositories of acad- 
emical power and influence." 3 

In proportion as the colleges became more per- 
fect, the university began to decay. Some trace the 
decline as far back as 1380. Disintegration set in 
very rapidly after the Renaissance. The ecclesiasti- 
cal character of the university diminished, and it 

1 Ritus Depositionis Argentina, apud Petrum Aubry, 1666. 

2 Thurot, " De l'Organisation de 1' University," p. 39. 

3 " Historical Sketches, Universities," pp. 221, 222. 



136 ESS A 2'S EDUCATIONAL. 

grew more secular. In 1452, Masters in Medicine 
were dispensed from celibacy ; in 1600, Doctors in Law 
attached to the university were permitted to marry. 
The Jesuits succeeded so admirably in perfecting the 
college system that at their door may safely be laid 
the chief cause of the decline of the University of 
Paris. By the end of the seventeenth century they 
had purchased twelve of its colleges. About 1764, 
twenty houses of the university were closed because 
they were not self-sustaining. 1 

Already in the seventeenth century murmurs 
began to arise concerning the decline and the ineffi- 
ciencies of the universities. In 1602, there appeared 
in England an appeal to Parliament to reform the 
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. A copy of 
this petition now lies before me. It is signed 
J. H., and in all probability is written by the An- 
glican bishop, Joseph Hall. 2 The author is whole- 
sale in his condemnation of university studies, uni- 
versity methods and university results. 

"I could never yet," he tells us, "make so bad 
an idea of a true university as that it should serve 
for no nobler end than to nurture a few raw strip- 
lings come out of some miserable country school, 
with a few shreds of Latin, that is as unmusical to 
a polite ear as the gruntings of a sow or the noise of 
a saw can be to one who is acquainted with the laws 
of harmony. And then, possibly, before they have 
surveyed the Greek alphabet, to be racked and tor- 
tured with a sort of harsh, abstracted, logical no- 
tions, which their wits are no more able to endure 



1 " Thurot," p. 131. 

2 15H-1656. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 137 

than their bodies the strapado, and to be delivered 
over to a jejune, barren, peripatetic philosophy suited 
only (as Descartes says) to wits that are seated be- 
low mediocrity. . . . And then as soon as they have 
done licking of this file to be turned to graze in finer 
ethics, which perhaps, tells them as much, in harder 
words, as they had heard their mothers talk by the 
fireside at home." 1 

This is the sum of knowledge that Hall finds in 
the universities of his day. Evidently the spirit of 
Bacon and Descartes is abroad. 

What does he expect? What would he have ? 
Here is his conception of what a university should be : 

" I have even expected from an university, that 
though all men cannot learn all things, yet they 
should be able to teach all things to all men, and be 
able either to attract knowing men from abroad out 
of their own wealth or at least be able to make an 
exchange." 2 

He finds the universities lacking in chemistry, in 
anatomy ; there are no masters to make a thorough 
examination of old tenets, or to review old experi. 
ments and traditions ; none to make a survey of an- 
tiquities or solemn disquisition into history ; there is 
an absence of all ready and generous teaching of the 
tongues. All these deficiencies he would have sup- 
plied, "not by some stripling youngster, who per- 
haps understands that which he professes as little as 
anything else, and mounts up into the chair twice or 



1 "An Humble Motion to the Parliament of England Con- 
cerning the Advancement of Learning and Reformation of the 
Universities." By J. H. London: Printed for John Walker, 
at the Starre in Popes-Head Alley, MDCIL, pp. 25, 26. 

2 Ibid., p. 27. 



138 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

thrice a year to mutter over some few impertinences, 
but by some staid man of tried and known abilities in 
his profession." ' 

He thinks the university schools " have not yet 
arrived to the exactness of the Jesuit colleges." 
Lord Bacon's estimate of the same colleges was no 
less favorable. In all that regards the instruction of 
youth, he says, "we must consult the classes of the 
Jesuits, for there can be nothing better." 2 He be- 
seeches parliament to reduce "those friar-like lists of 
fellowships " into a fewer number, and those retained 
"to be bestowed upon men excellent in their partic- 
ular endowments and peculiar for some use or other so 
that the number of the professors might increase." : 
He suggests the combining of all the colleges thinly 
scattered and poorly patronized up and down the 
land under one or other of the great universities; 
that there be greater freedom of the press and that 
two copies of every new book go to the public 
library ; that all medals, statues and other antiqui- 
ties at the time public property or confiscate to the 
crown go to the university museums ; finally, that 
learned foreigners be duly honored and encouraged 
to make their homes in the universities. 4 

An anonymous writer of the same period, evi- 
dently intimate with the workings of the University 
of Paris and anxious for its welfare, sends out a 
similar cry of warning and bewails the evils he 



J Ibid., 


pp. 


27. 


28. 






2 "De 


Augmentis 


Scientiarum 


3 Ibid., 


p. 


29. 


I 


have 


moder; 


quotations 












4 Ibid., 


pp. 


3°> 


3 1 - 







UNIVERSITT COLLEGES. 139 

would see remedied. He is opposed to any in- 
fringement of the old order. He does not like to 
see the colleges monopolize university instruction. 

" There are," he tells us, " sixty-three colleges or 
high schools in the University of Paris. These 
were not originally established for boarders, nor 
in order that the arts may be taught in them, 
as is done to-day, but to feed and maintain 
certain scholars whom the ancients called bursars. 
These attended public lectures in the rue de 
Fouarre." ' 

He would see them return to the old custom. The 
regents are no longer adequately compensated. He 
tells us that the Jesuits brought about this ruinous 
system of gratuitous instruction, "and even the 
Jesuits do not teach gratuitously since they secure 
such good endowments for their colleges." 2 He 
would, therefore, gladly see them expelled from 
Paris, and hints at what he considers the proper 
mode of treatment for them, by calling attention to 
the fact that " Carlo Borromeo took from the Jes- 
uits the seminaries that he had instituted in the 
diocese of Milan." 3 He bewails the fact that 
neither among themselves have the masters the 
proper spirit, nor over their pupils have they the 
same influence as of old ; and if they are to do good 
as formerly they must reform their present mode of 
living and in submission to the statute of Septem- 
ber 20, 1577, go back to commons. 



1 " Memoi res pour le Reglement de l'Universite, MDLX. 
in the " Bibliotheque Nationale," 1073, 24, 115-2130, p. 2. 

2 Ibid., p. 3. 
"Ibid., p. 6. 



140 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

The anonymous author finds fault with the man- 
ner in which the students are treated in some of the 
colleges. He has no good word for the harsh dis- 
cipline to which the students of Montaigu College 
are subjected. He advocates the reduction of their 
number to a third of what it then was, so that 
they be better fed and better clothed, and that 
they wear " a dress more civilized and respectable 
than that they now wear." He bewails the neglect 
of lessons upon the holidays and fast-days. He 
says : 

"Twenty-five or thirty years ago lessons were 
taught in the university on feast days and on Sundays, 
from nine to ten in the morning, and from four to 
five in the afternoon, and on the feasts of the Apostles 
there were public declamations — usance qiiil est 
necessaire remettre." 1 

The regents he finds derelict in duty : 

" Each regent should watch in turn over the 
scholars at play, in order to see that they behave with 
modesty and reserve, that they speak only the Latin 
tongue, and that they salute politely all who pass 
through the ground." 

He is dissatisfied with the preparatory schools of 
the university. They are not doing their duty, they 
are not grounding the children sufficiently. He tells 
us that there are thirty such schools in Paris, that 
the masters of them are frequently ignorant, and 
that they persist in carrying the children into other 
fields of study rather than confining themselves to 
the rudiments. In consequence, he complains bit- 
terly of the difficulty of unlearning children what 

1 Ibid., p. 21. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 141 

they had been badly taught, and above all of cor- 
recting habits of erroneous pronunciation. 1 

Such a foundation can support only a poor su- 
perstructure. And what solidity can be found in 
institutions the principals of which are elected, not 
through merit, but as the result of canvassing and 
intrigue. 2 Such was the state of affairs among the 
colleges of the University of Paris in 1610. Here 
we part company with the annoymous author, grate- 
ful for the glimpse he gave us into the causes that 
led to the disintegration of that wonderful structure. 

The University of Paris had begun to decline in 
power and influence long before. In the beginning 
of the sixteenth century while there was slight 
diminution in the number of her students, a marked 
change was passing over her spirit. Her prestige 
was on the wane. She had ceased to be the sem- 
inary of Christendom and was simply a national in- 
stitution. 3 The causes of this decline were both 
local and general. In the fourteenth century uni- 
versities were multiplied in nearly every country in 
Europe. Each nation, sometimes each province 
or district possessing its own university, naturally 
students stayed at home and, with few exceptions, 
availed themselves of the universities established at 
their doors. The old-time severity exercised in the 
distribution of academical honors became relaxed 
and forthwith the degrees from Paris lost their 
primitive significance and were in consequence less 

1 Ibid., p. 22. 

2 Ibid., p. 23. 

:{ "Thurot," P- 2. 



142 BSSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

eagerly sought. Finally, during the sojourn of the 
popes in Avignon, ecclesiastical dignities were 
showered upon the professors, who thereupon 
threw up their positions and their studies, and in 
consequence the work of the university was gener- 
ally done by inferior men. 1 Then, as now, it is true 
that personal worth and personal influence are the 
chief factors in determining the character and pres- 
tige of college or university. Now, as then, a great 
educator, or a great body of educators, can establish 
themselves in a barn and attract crowds, while the 
noblest architectural structures, with the most im- 
proved modern school-furniture, may proudly raise 
their spires, and yet, if directed by incompetency or 
mediocrity, they will be passed by, or will be patron- 
ized by that class of parents which judges the merits 
of a school by the picture upon its prospectus. 

V. 

Let us go behind this college life and note the 
guide books by which the masters were directed in 
their teachings. We are accustomed to consider ped- 
agogy a modern science. But let us not be deceived. 
In those mediaeval days there were wholesome studies 
of methods. Then as now, masters considered the 
ways and means by which best results might be 
reached. 

The manual of the thirteenth century most in 
vogue was a small work in seven chapters, known as 

1 The first Rotulus Nominandorum was sent in 1316 to 
John XXII. See Prof. Shirley's introduction to " Fasciculi 
Zizaniorum," p. 11. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 143 

" De Disciplina Scholarium," 1 and attributed to Boe- 
thius, but not written till the University of Paris had 
been fully established. The book is quoted by Roger 
Bacon in 1627.' The name of Boethius rendered it 
popular and gave it a prescriptive standing that it 
might have never otherwise attained. Still there is a 
goodly share of sound advice running through its 
pages. 

The unknown author would have instruction con- 
tinuous, uninterrupted, riveted in the brain by fre- 
quent repetition until the verses of the poets and the 
sentences of the philosophers find a fixed place in the 
memory. The master should not be content with 
the teaching of mere words, which makes sophists, 
nor with purely mental activity which develops the 
judgment and originates science, but he should also 
with both of these combine common usage that comes 
with habit. Science without practice is of small 
avail, whereas practice without science availeth 
greatly. He should be erudite, affable, strict, grave, 
and careful without arrogance. 3 The scholar should 
always be subject to the master, for only he who 
knows how to obey knows how to govern himself. 
This submission has a threefold character; attention 
in practice, docility of mind, and good will of the 
soul; the student should ever be attentive to listen, 
docile to understand, and ready to retain. It be- 
hooves the master to understand his scholars and di- 
rect each according to his talents ; the obtuse mind 



1 "Patrologia Latina," vol. lxiv. 

2 In the " Opus Majus." 

:{ "Dc Disciplina Scholarium," cap. vi., col. 1235. 



144 BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

to mechanics, the mediocre to politics, the acute to 
philosophy. 1 Masters and scholars should constitute 
one family, and if the master is obliged to adminis- 
ter corporal punishment it must be with permis- 
sion of the parent. In all that has been here tran- 
scribed very little can be improved upon after an 
experience of six centuries. 

The Carmelite, William Whetely, made a careful 
study of this little volume, and according to its 
principles during five and twenty years directed the 
schools of Stamford, and under his efficient man- 
agement Stamford grew to such prominence that it 
was considered a rival of Oxford and Cambridge, 
The historian of Stamford says of the Carmelite 
convent : 

" Certain it is this convent was as happy in the 
famous men it produced, as their schools and house 
itself were remarkable for the strictness of their 
discipline." 2 

Whetely wrote an elaborate commentary upon 
the manual attributed to Boethius, whence Leland 
calls him " Boetianus." The commentary is still 
extant in manuscript in Pembroke College Library, 
Cambridge. 3 

A voice out of the same age, speaking to us from 
Brescia, the voice of a judge learned in the law, 
Albertans Albertani (circa 1250) among some moral 
prosings discusses the subject of education with the 



1 Ibid., cap. v., col. 1233. 

2 Peck, " Academia Tertia Anglicana," lit. viii., p. 44. 

3 See J. Bass Mullinger, " University of Cambridge," pp. 
637, 638. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 145 

practical sense of a man of affairs. In a tract titled 
" Of Speaking and of Silence" — De Loquendi et 
Tacendi Modo — the author lays down the requisites 
for study (cap. xi.). According to him there are 
three essentials that enter into the acquisition of 
knowledge, namely, doctrine, use, and exercise, and 
practical application. The mind is afterward aided 
by forcible thoughts on doctrine, which should be 
committed to memory ; by constant reading, by 
writing, and by chewing and masticating the science 
that one learns. While studying one should over- 
look or despise no science, no written document ; 
one should never feel ashamed to learn from any 
person that can give information, and finally one 
should not despise others because one has become 
familiar with some science. 1 

Another manual of pedagogy is the treatise " De 
Eruditione Principum," from the pen of William P£- 
rault, who was contemporary with Thomas Aquinas. 
He died about 1275. For a long time his book was 
attributed to St. Thomas, and is still to be found in 
all the printed editions of his works. 2 Echard proved 
conclusively that the treatise belongs to Peraldus. 3 
The work is divided into seven books. The first is 
made up of moral reflections considered suitable 
to a young prince. It dwells upon the vanity of 



1 See an analysis of this little work by Vicenzo di Giovanni 
in " Nota," published at Palermo, 1874. -A- co P Y oi tne work 
itself is to be found in the Mazarin Library. See also Ever- 
ardo Micheli, " Storia della Pedagogia Italiana," pp. 79, 80. 

2 " Opusculum," XXXVII., vol. xvi., Parma edition, 1865. 

3 " Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum," i., pp. 131-136. 
Paris. 1719. 

E. E.— 10 



146 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

worldly riches, praise and glory, and the risks, mis- 
eries and responsibilities that accompany earthly 
power, and inculcates clemency, piety, wisdom and 
the other qualities becoming his earthly power and 
true nobility. 1 The second treats of the relations of 
the prince towards God and the Church. It dwells 
upon the faith, hope, charity and the fear of the 
Lord that should possess him. It lays stress on the 
rules and motives urging one to the love of God and 
of one's neighbor a The third unfolds the care the 
prince should take of himself. While engaged and 
occupied with others it behooves him not to neglect 
his own interior life. He may possess all knowledge 
of men and things, but not knowing himself he 
would only be building upon a ruinous foundation. 
He is not wise whose wisdom does not extend to 
the attaining of his own salvation. In his every act 
he should ask himself, " Is it lawful? Is it expedi- 
ent? Is it proper?" He should frequently enter 
into himself and ask himself who he is, what he is, 
and what manner of life he leads. He proves him- 
self stronger in overcoming himself than in conquer- 
ing an army. 3 The fourth book treats of a prince's 
relations with others. It shows the misfortunes and 
temptations to which princes are exposed when sur- 
rounded by designing and currupt men ; it lays 
stress upon the necessity of wise counselors, and 
having honest men at the head of affairs, of being 
above the acceptance of rewards, of doing justice 

1 " S. Thomas Opera," vol. xvi., p. 391-403. 

2 Ibid., pp. 400-414. 
8 Ibid., pp. 414-422. 



UNIVERSIT1' colleges. 147 

by the poor and never coveting whatever may be 
theirs. 1 

The fifth book is the most important. It is com- 
posed of sixty-six chapters, and may be regarded as 
a complete treatise upon education. Peraldus lays 
down the elementary principle that parents owe it to 
their offspring as a primary duty, the lacking in 
which were inexcusable, to see that they are educated. 
This discipline is not merely one of words; it must 
also be a training by means of the whip — nee 
sufficit nt eruditis verborum, immo necessaria est 
etiam disciplina verberum. The child is taken from 
his tender years and his dispositions are studied and 
his habits are formed accordingly. The advantages 
of bearing the yoke of the Lord from the days of 
youth are clearly laid down. Five things are required 
on the part of the master; namely, that he be en- 
dowed with fair talent, that his life be upright and 
honorable, that he be possessed of knowledge accu- 
rately acquired and well digested before instructing 
others, that he be possessed of an eloquent manner 
of imparting information, and that he have experi- 
ence as a teacher. The instruction imparted by an 
experienced teacher has five qualities ; it is plain and 
simple so as to reach the feeblest intelligence ; it is 
imparted in the fewest possible words ; it is useful; 
it is presented in such a variety of lights as to ren- 
der it agreeable ; and the subject-matter is neither 
too long drawn out nor too rapidly passed over. 
This is a valuable pedagogical chapter 2 upon the 

1 Ibid., pp. 422-427. 

2 Ibid., cap. ix., pp. 431, 432. 



148 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

form and method of teaching. No less instructive 
is the succeeding chapter upon the qualifications of 
a good student. 

The good student should be of good life. Pride, 
anger, envy, sloth, gluttony, love and hatred are all 
impediments in the way of learning. The good stu- 
dent endeavors to overcome every deadly vice. He 
prays much ; for wisdom being a gift of God, he con- 
stantly beseeches the Divine Source for an abun- 
dance thereof. He brings humility to his studies, 
especially to all studies concerning Holy Writ. 
This humility leads him to that honest love of truth, 
possessing which he is not ashamed to confess igno- 
rance when he does not know, and is ever ready and 
willing to learn. As he who receives from everybody 
becomes all the richer, so he who learns from every- 
body becomes all the wiser. The good student ever 
cherishes the fear of God in his heart. This fear, 
which is the beginning of wisdom, leads him to walk 
carefully in the right way, and guards him against 
error, presumption and negligence in study. He is 
meek, ever receiving instructions, especially the les- 
sons of the sacred Scriptures, with docility. He is 
diligent in his studies ; for he who hastily passes over 
the words of a text does not perceive all its meaning 
or appreciate all its beauty. Here the student is 
cautioned against that curiosity which would sacri- 
fice the important for the trivial; against fickleness 
and instability in reading ; against quarrelsome dis- 
putations and verbal hairsplittings. 

The good student is methodical. Where there 
is an absence of method, there may indeed be hard 



UNIVERSITT COLLEGES. 149 

work, but' there is very little progress. He is per- 
severing in his studies ; this is the essential condi- 
tion of all advancement. Perseverance has been 
called the mother of the arts, negligence the step- 
mother of all learning. Another requisite, very es- 
sential for youths, is continued practice. The un- 
used iron rusts. Hence the value of disputations 
amicably conducted; they polish and sharpen intel- 
lects. Furthermore, the good student impresses 
upon his memory whatever he reads ; otherwise his 
labor would be in vain. What avails it that the doe 
catches the game, if forthwith he lets it go ? Water 
easily receives impressions, but to no purpose, since 
it does not retain them. The mind discovers wis- 
dom, the memory preserves it. Intellectual slow- 
ness may be aided by assiduity, and defective mem- 
ory improved by frequent repetitions and taking 
notes. The scholar should ever regard his teacher 
with esteem and respect and be towards him sub- 
missive and affectionate. Finally, he should be 
careful to thank and glorify God for the talents and 
the knowledge with which he has been favored. 1 

The remainder of the book is devoted to the 
discipline of youth as regards behavior, clothing, 
food and drink, marriage and virginity. The author 
dwells upon the temptations to which young men 
are exposed ; the puerilities that they should avoid ; 
the virtues that they should practice, especially pa- 
tience, humility and obedience. He commends 
matrimony and speaks in glowing terms of the love 
and esteem that should mutually exist between 

1 Ibid., cap. x., pp. 433, 434. 



150 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

husband and wife. But he pleads most earnestly 
for freedom of action among those young men who 
would lead a life of celibacy and serve God in a re- 
ligious order. Several chapters are devoted to the 
education of daughters. They should not be al- 
lowed to gad about, should never be idle, and should 
devote themselves to study. They should be 
brought up chaste, humble, pious, meek and re- 
served, and their virtue carefully guarded. They 
should prize goodness and moral worth above phy- 
sical beauty and consider the spiritual adornments 
of the soul superior to those that set forth the 
beauty of the body. The honor of widowhood is 
commented upon; the state of virginity is lauded 
and shown to be far above that of matrimony; its 
beauty is compared to thedily and its efficacy and 
special glory are extolled. 1 

Of the remaining books little need be said. The 
sixth is devoted to the relations of the prince to his 
subjects. The author begins by picturing the mag- 
nitude of the evil an impious prince can inflict upon 
his subjects, and the punishment he is liable to incur. 
Afterwards the blessings that accompany the reign 
of a good prince are eloquently depicted. The sev- 
enth and last book is devoted to the relations of the 
prince to his enemies, and to the various duties be- 
longing to a military life. The only recognized 
avenues to honor and position in those days were 
the military and the clerical life. So it is here stated 
that " as in the body of the Church the clergy con- 
stitute the brain, so the military organization is the 

1 Ibid., pp. 427-466. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 151 

hand . . . from the clergy it has direction and 
accordingly owes the clergy protection." 1 Here ends 
this remarkable treatise on education from the pen 
of William Perault. Petit-Radel, after giving a very 
inadequate account of the book, says with truth : 
" We can praise the lucid style, the wise maxims, 
the noble and beautiful sentiments, the good order 
in details, that pervade the work." 2 The recognition 
of Perault as a great educator and an eminent writer 
is a tardy act of justice. 

Another Dominican who preserved the educa- 
tional traditions of the Dominicans in his writings, 
and still more with his pupils in the school-room, 
was Fra Bartolomio da San Concordia (1262-1347), 
of whom the Pisan chronicle speaks in terms of ad- 
miration as a teacher. The highest tribute the 
chronicle pays him is this : that while he stimu- 
lated genius he did not neglect youths of mediocre 
talent ; that he was accessible to all ; that he com- 
municated what he had learned without distinction 
and without pretension ; and so well did he succeed 
that the most unpolished minds went forth from his 
school so carefully instructed that their skill seemed 
to be natural and their efficiency to come from art. 
Besides conducting the studium of his convent, he 
established a school of oratory and poetry for the 
laity. In his " Ammaestramenti degli Antichi," he 
gathered together about two thousand passages 



^bid., cap. ill., p. 472. 

2 "Histoire Litteraire de la France," t. xix., p. 315. See 

" Bibliothek der Katholischen Padagogik," vol. iii., p. 212. 
Also Von Ketteler, "Die Pflichten des Adels," Mainz, 1868. 



152 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

from one hundred and twenty different authors, and 
through the quotations he has interspersed his own 
beautiful and practical suggestions. There is little 
that is new in his method, but when treating of the 
natural dispositions of soul and body, of the actions 
that lead the way to virtue, of studying and teach- 
ing, and of the mode of speaking, he says things that 
every student of pedagogy might read with profit. 1 

Another volume breathing the spirit of St. 
Thomas, and written in the same key-note with 
that of Perault, is the " De Regimine Principum " 
of Egidius Romano of the Colonna family (1241- 
1 3 16). Egidius, though an Agustinian, had sat at 
the feet of the Angelical Doctor for several years, 
following him from chair to chair. He afterwards 
became general of the Augustinians and Bishop of 
Bourges. Having been charged with the education 
of the Dauphin of France, who was afterwards 
known as Philip the Fair, he wrote this treatise on 
the education of a prince. The book was written 
before 1285. It is divided into three parts : the first 
treating of self-government, or morals; the second 
of government of the family, or economics ; and the 
third of civil government, or politics. The second 
part includes the subject of education. Felix La- 
jard pronounces it " a complete treatise on educa- 
tion, physical, intellectual, and moral, adapted to 
the different ages of the child from the cradle up." 8 
Going over the same ground that Perault cultivated, 
and going over it in the same spirit and according 

1 See Milanese, " Storia della Pedagogia," vol. ii., p. 149 1. 

2 " Histoire Litteraire de la France," t. xxx., p. 521. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 153 

to the same principles, it naturally follows that the 
same ideas are enforced in the work of Gilles. The 
author begins by laying stress upon the care and 
prudence with which the parent should guide the 
steps of the child in the path of truth and virtue. 
He dwells upon the love between father and son, 
which love should be the principle of obedience on 
the part of the son. He afterwards speaks of the 
instruction that should be imparted. The first and 
most essential is everything pertaining to religion, 
then good habits and good manners, then correct- 
ness of speech, and finally science. He goes through 
the gamut of the Trivium and Quadrivium, and adds 
thereto, as essential for the education of a prince, 
metaphysics, theology, politics and ethics. Nor 
must we conclude from this elaborate programme, 
that the truly learned author — Doctor Fundatissimus 
he was called in his own day — was an impracticable 
theorist. He discriminates. He says: 

"The sons of princes should know enough of 
theology to confirm them in their faith ; they should 
know well the moral sciences in order to learn 
therefrom how to govern themselves and others. 
From certain sciences they should know all that is 
necessary for their moral development ; from gram- 
mar, enough to understand the idioms in which the 
truths of religion and morality are taught ; from 
rhetoric and dialectics, all that can render their in- 
tellects prompt to apprehend, and give them facility 
of expression ; from music, whatever can aid good 
manners. For the other sciences a slight acquaint- 
ance is sufficient." J 



1 " De Regimine Principum," p. 310. 



154 ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

The teacher should possess three essential quali- 
ties : he should be learned in the science of philos- 
ophy ; he should know all matters that man can and 
ought to do, and he should be good and upright in 
his life. He should teach children how to speak, 
how to listen and how to see. Rules are laid down 
regarding eating and drinking and all the wants of 
the human body, and great caution is given concern- 
ing the avoidance of bad company. The author 
divides the educational period of life into three 
parts : first, from birth to the seventh year ; second, 
from the seventh to the fourteenth year ; third, from 
the age of fourteen upward. He then lays down, 
even to minute details, all that is requisite for the 
development of the body, the instruction of the 
mind and the education of the heart in each stage of 
growth. Above all, is it recommended that the 
teacher study the bent of the child's mind, and see 
that it follows that bent in a special manner. Here- 
in Egidius agrees with the unknown author of the 
teacher's manual that had been attributed to Boeth- 
ius. From this principle it follows that those who 
have a taste for reading and study and science should 
be afforded every facility to pursue their studies, 
while those who have no inclination for books should 
be exercised in arms, that they also be able to ben- 
efit their country. Finally, in the last chapter the 
author treats of the education of girls, and therein 
lays greater stress upon their being adorned with 
every virtue than upon their being learned in every 
science ; he sets his face against dancing, public 
promenades and loitering on the porches ; instead, 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 155 

he would have them simple and modest, always oc- 
cupied, and gracious and becoming in their manners. 
This book was translated by Henri de Gauchi, at the 
request of Philip, for the benefit of his people, and 
it thus became popular at an early day. 1 Thomas 
Ouleve embodied the chief portion of the work in 
his poem "The Governail of Princes." 

But it was not only Dominicans who gave us in- 
sight into the methods of teaching practised in those 
days. There were Franciscans who were not less 
alive to the wants of the day. Take Roger Bacon 
(i 2 14-1292). He saw deeply and clearly into the 
reality of things and the value of systems. He dis- 
tinguished between what was solid and substantial 
in the studies and teachings of his day and the mere 
varnish and veneering that was frequently substi- 
tuted for real knowledge. He does not conceal his 
impatience when in presence of what he considers 
mere pretension. Throughout his writings he keeps 
up a constant fusilade against his contemporaries. 
He finds fault with the groundwork given to boys in 
his day. He assures us that thousands of boys en- 
tered the Mendicant Orders unable to read their 
psalter or their Latin grammar, and that forthwith, 
without other preparation, they were set down to 
the study of theology. And then, even in the study 
of theology, he found Peter Lombard held in greater 
esteem than the Sacred Scriptures. Indeed, he was 
disgusted at seeing how men abandoned the study 
of theology for the more lucrative study of civil 
law. " Every first-rate man," he says, " having an 

1 " Histoire Litteraire de la France," t. xxx., p. 531 



156 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

aptitude for theology and philosophy, betakes himself 
to civil law, because he sees that civilians are honored 
by all prelates and princes." He may be ignorant of 
theology and canon law, but he is held in higher es- 
teem than the master of theology and sooner elected 
to ecclesiastical dignities. 

Bacon had no sympathy with the roundabout 
methods by which, at great expense of money and 
time, a small modicum of knowledge was acquired. 
He avers that in one year he could teach a promis- 
ing boy all that it takes the schools twenty years to 
impart. He discourages the study of light literature 
and considers the moral writings of Seneca and the 
Vulgate a better training for young men than the 
amatory poems of Ovid. He regards the method of 
teaching geometry as needlessly long and tedious. 
He bewails the paucity of good mathematicians. He 
would apply experiment and mathematical calcula- 
tions to physics. Natural science does not depend 
upon authority, but upon experiment as the only 
sure road to certainty. He advocated as the key to 
all knowledge the careful study of languages and of 
mathematics. Did men know the languages better 
there would be more precision in thought. Mathe- 
matics purges the intellectual vision and fits the 
learner for the acquirement of all knowledge, for 
mathematics is the connecting link between all the 
sciences. 1 Logic he did not consider so important ; 
for we know it naturally, and even the uneducated 
syllogize. 2 He goes back to the workings of the 

1 "Opus Tertium," p. 37. 

2 Ibid., p. 102. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 157 

human mind, and considers the obstacles that stand 
in the way of acquiring human knowledge. 

" In the way of acquiring truth," he says, " there 
are four stumbling blocks which impede all wisdom 
whatever and scarcely permit anybody to arrive at 
true wisdom. They are : the force of weak and un- 
worthy authority, prolonged custom, ignorant popu- 
lar opinion, and the hiding of one's ignorance by the 
semblance of knowledge." 1 

Thus, out of the stray remarks running through 
the works of this great but too outspoken Francis- 
can might one construct a whole methodology far in 
advance of his day and generation. 

Another eminent man who, for the instruction and 
edification of master and pupil, wrote in Latin verse 
a little treatise on school-life, was Bonvicino da Ripa. 
His is one of the most honored names in Milan. He 
had been set down as a Dominican, 2 and it had been 
surmised that he was a Franciscan ; but he was 
neither; his monument tells us that he was a dis- 
tinguished member of the Third Order of Humiliati. 8 
In May, 1291, we find him assisting at a general 
chapter of his Order. The old chroniclers speak 
highly of him as an eminent teacher in the Palatine 
school, in Legnano, where he erected a hospital, and 
in Milan. In addition, he was the first to estab- 
lish in Milan and the surrounding district the pious 
custom of recalling the memory of the Incarnation 
at the ringing of the bells, as his eulogist expresses 



1 "Opus Majus," lib. i., p. 2. 

2 Eehard et Quetif, " Script. Ord. Praed.," t. i., p. 419. 

3 Argelati, " Bibliotheca Scriptorum," t. ii., p. 187. 



158 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

it, 1 in the words of his epitaph : "qui primo fecit pulsari 
companas ad Ave Maria Mediolani et in comitatu." 
That same epitaph adds: " Dicatur Ave Maria pro 
anima ejus." 2 Let us not forget the pious bequest. 
Bonvicino was courteous, generous, devoted to the 
noble work of educating youth. Though he wrote 
Latin in a style that Sassi compliments, he was none 
the less an enthusiastic cultivator of the Italian, 
which he sought to polish, and in which he wrote, 
among other things in verse, a little book laying 
down the rules of courtesy and good behavior for 
children. These rules have been edited by Mr. 
Michael Rossetti, and published by the Early Eng- 
lish Text Society. 

Let us now glance at the poem "De Vita Scholas- 
tica." 3 The pious author begins by stating that he 
would place in the hands of every student the keys 
by which in the pursuit of his studies he may best 
unlock the gate of wisdom. The edition of the poem 
from which the abstract is made, is subdivided under 
various headings. Now, the first key the author 
would place in the student's hands is the fear of the 
Lord. He lays stress upon an active faith which is 
based on this fear. " The devil believes, but he is 
wanting in this living faith." The poet next coun- 
sels the student so to control his thoughts and in- 
tentions that whatever he learns shall be for the 
honor of God. It is the part of wisdom to be dis- 

1 Sassi, "De Studiis Literariis Mediolanensium," Milan, 
1729, p. 94. 

2 Argelati, loc. cit. 

3 "Fratris Bonvicini Mediolanensis Vita Scholastica," 
Brixiae, 1585. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 159 

creet in the use of the tongue. One should never 
slander ; never deceive ; never be vain ; never boast- 
ful ; never flattering ; never false ; never indulge in 
proud prating. 1 

The author next dwells upon the observance of 
humility and the avoidance of pride. He would have 
the student fly from jealousy; would have him 
grateful for favors, and forgiving of injuries; he 
would have him make all studies subservient to the 
glory of God and the salvation of his soul. The 
poet here tells the legend of that Master Serlon of 
Paris, whose disciple took undue pleasure in soph- 
isms and undue pride in his power of logical dispu- 
tation, and who, terrified at the apparition of this 
disciple damned for his vanity, and wearing a cloak 
of sophisms which crushes him to earth and con- 
sumes him, forthwith becomes converted and retires 
to a monastery, saying: I leave frogs to their croak- 
ing, rooks to their cawing, and things of vanity to 
the vain, and henceforth I pursue that logic which 
fears not the Ergo of death — 

" Linquo coax ranis: croc corvis : vanaque vanis, 
Ad logicam pergo : quae mortis non timet Ergo.' 

Another section of the poem exhorts the student 
to avoid luxury, and that vice of sodomy which was 
then prevalent among masters and students, and for 
which Dante placed his own teacher in hell. The 
student is counseled to be abstemious in eating 
and drinking, and is cautioned against gluttony, 



1 " Lingua tibi non sit detractrix : subdola : vana : grandis : 
adulatrix: falsa: superba loquax," p. 3. 



160 ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

the wearing of delicate clothing and sleeping in 
a bed that is too downy and comfortable ; against 
games of chance ; against frequent balls and dances ; 
against avarice and cupidity; against extravagance 
in giving, the student knowing always to whom he 
gives. He should regulate his senses, and fix his 
thoughts upon heaven that they may become wor- 
thy of heaven and filled with goodness. Stress is 
laid upon avoiding bad company, upon being charita- 
ble towards all, especially one's companions; the 
duties to be performed morning and evening, the 
the prayers to be said; upon making the sign of the 
cross when one eats or drinks; upon the love and 
reverence due to father and mother; upon prayer 
to the saints and the frequent hearing of mass — ut 
videas Christum virgine matre natutn. 

Nor does Bonvicino overlook the teacher's du- 
ties. 3 To be worthy of his position, the first thing 
the master should do, "If he would control his pu- 
pils, is discreetly to correct his own defects." He 
is to avoid all vanity, and perfect himself in his 
studies. The master who is lacking in sound learn- 
ing, is preparing to live dishonestly. He should be 
discreet in correcting, nor be easily overcome by 
anger. Where peace and discipline are united, there 
are studies properly conducted. Such is the sub- 
stance of this rare book. 2 

We shall find summed up in the writings of Dante 
what was best in the educational methods of that 



1 Incipit liber secundus de Regimine Magistrorum. 

2 The volume from which I took this sketch is in the Maza- 
rin Library, Paris. 



UNIVERSITT COLLEGES. 161 

day. Dante (i 265-1 321) was born and raised in a 
republic in which education was general. According 
to Villani, fully 12,000 children out of a population 
of 90,000, which Florence then contained, attended 
school. Of these, the large majority received only 
an elementary training ; the girls, at an early age, 
learning from their mothers all the various household 
duties, and the boys apprenticed to the trades of 
their fathers, who transmitted to them that skill 
which made Florence so famous. Seven hundred 
young men received the higher education. The very 
spirit of the arts was scholastic in Dante's day. You 
read the story in the oratory of Orsanmichele, in 
which each art with its masterpiece receives a crown ; 
you read it in the chapters of Santa Maria Novella, 
in Gaddi's painting of the Trivium and Quadrivium; 
you read it in Giotto's sculpture of the same subject 
upon his marvelous campanile. Here was the at- 
mosphere in which Dante's boyhood and early man- 
hood were passed. 

It is the mission of the poet to reflect in his work 
the predominant, all-pervading spirit and views of 
his age. Now, in his day, the universities were the 
controlling element in thought, in art, in politics, 
moulding the thinkers and rulers of the age both in 
church and state. But Dante was a life-long stu- 
dent. He traveled from land to land and from 
school to school, and sat patiently and humbly at 
the feet of masters, imbibing whatever knowledge 
they could convey. He disputed in public. His 
bright eye and strong, sombre, reserved features at- 
tracted the attention of fellow-students as he wended 

E. E.— 11 



162 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

his way, absorbed in his own thoughts, through the 
rue de Fouarre, and entered the hall in which Sig- 
ier was holding forth. 1 Tradition has it that he was 
no less assiduous a frequenter of School street in 
Oxford. He has left us no distinct treatise on edu- 
cation, but he who embodied all the science of his day, 
who was supreme in teaching so many other lessons, 
could not be silent in regard to pedagogy. From his 
writings a whole volume of rules and principles bear- 
ing upon education might be gleaned. In "II Convito" 
he expresses himself fully on the different ages of 
human growth and development ; speaks of obedi- 
ence as an essential requisite for the child ; after his 
father he should obey his masters and his elders. 2 He 
should also be gentle and modest, reverent, and eager 
to acquire knowledge ; reserved, never forward ; re- 
pentant of his faults to the extent of overcoming 
them. As our soul in all its operations makes use of 
a bodily organ, it behooves us to exercise the body 
that it grow in grace and aptness, and be well or- 
dained and disposed in order that the soul may 
control it to the best advantage. Thus it is that 
a noble nature seeks to have a sound mind in a 
sound body. 8 

Dante is as faithful a disciple of St. Thomas 
Aquinas as is Gilles of Rome. He holds with the 
Angelical Doctor that the soul was made to know 
truth, to love and possess the good, and to enjoy the 
beautiful. The heart was created for the good. All 

1 " Paradiso," x., 136-138. 

2 " II Convito," Tratt. iv., cap. 24. 

3 Ibid., cap. 25. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 163 

indistinctly apprehend the good towards which the 
soul aspires and in which it would rest : 

" Each one confusedly a good conceives 
Wherein the mind may rest, and longeth for it; 
Therefore to overtake it each one strives." 1 

Elsewhere he beautifully likens the soul seeking 
the good to the traveler in a strange land going from 
door to door expecting that each house he enters 
will be the inn in which he is to take lodgings ; even 
so does the soul turn its eyes now upon one thing, 
now upon another, and because its knowledge is 
limited and fragmentary, and it sees not things in 
their true light, it not infrequently accepts as a 
great good that which in reality is very small and 
insignificant. 3 

As the heart seeks the good, so does the intel- 
lect seek the true. The intellect was made for truth 
and rejoices in possession of the truth: 

"And thou shouldst know that they all have delight 
As much as their own vision penetrates 
The Truth, in which all intellect finds rest." 3 

So also does the soul rejoice in the contemplation 
of the beautiful. But, as there are different degrees 
of goodness, so are there different degrees of beauty. 
The spiritual beauty of religious dogma and doctrine, 
for instance, as explained in the science of theology 
— she who " betwixt truth and mind infuses light" 4 
— and symbolized in Beatrice, is far above beauty 

i << Purgatorio," xvii., 127-129. 
- " II Convito," Tratt. iv., cap. 12. 
: * " Paradiso," xxviii., 106-108. 
* " Purgatorio," vi., 46. 



164 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

that appeals to the senses, and so absorbs the soul 
that it turns aside from all earthly forms of the fair. 
Here is how the poet expresses this truth : 

"Then by the spirit that doth never leave 
Its amorous dalliance with my lady's looks, 
Back with redoubled ardor were mine eyes 
Led unto her: and from her radiant smiles, 
When as I turned me, pleasure so divine 
Did lighten on me, that whatever vail 
Of art or nature in the human flesh, 
Or in its limned resemblance, can combine 
Through greedy eyes to take the soul withal, 
Were to her beauty nothing." l 

But man's senses and the faculties of his soul are 
developed for other purposes than that of self-grati- 
fication. Since he is made for society, and society 
requires various duties, various functions, various 
aptitudes in the arts and sciences and the diverse 
walks of life, then is it in the nature of things that 
there should be among men diversity of talents. 
This is the teaching of Aristotle : 

"Whence he again: 'Now say, would it be worse 
For men on earth were they not citizens?' 
'Yes,' I replied; 'and here I ask no reason.' 

'And can they be so, if below they live not 

Diversely unto offices diverse?' 

'No, if your master writeth well for you.'" 2 

Upon this principle, based upon the nature of 
man as a social being, Dante builds up the great 
pedagogical truth that natures should not be forced 
into grooves for which they are unfitted ; that in the 

1 "Paradiso," xxvii., 88-97, Cary's tr. 

2 " Paradiso," viii., t 15-120. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 165 

choosing of a state of life one's tastes and inclina- 
tions should be consulted ; that it were unwise to 
compel one with a love for study and retirement to 
assume the career of arms, or one whose tastes are 
for outdoor life and industrial activity to confine 
himself to books. He would have him with a me- 
chanical turn of mind devote himself to a trade ; him 
with a bent for science devote himself to scientific 
pursuits ; him fond of books and reading devote 
himself to a life of letters, and so on with other tal- 
ents and other callings. In this manner will the de- 
signs of Providence be best carried out and most 
good accomplished. To this effect spake Charles to 
the poet : 

" Evermore nature, if it fortune find 
Discordant to it, like each other seed 
Out of its region, maketh evil thrift, 
And if the world below would fix its mind 
On the foundation which is laid by nature, 
Pursuing that, 'twould have the people good. 
But you unto religion wrench aside 
Him who was born to gird him with a sword, 
And make a king of him who is for sermons : 
Therefore your footsteps wander from the road." 1 

But the whole poem recognizes the necessity of 
education. Dante in his own person represents hu- 
manity. He is unable to extricate himself from the 
dark wood or to overcome the many obstacles that 
beset his way without the guidance of Virgil, whom 
he calls his master 2 and his pedagogue. 3 Even so, 

ilbid., 139-149- 

2 " Inferno," i., 85. 

3 " Purgatorio," xii., 3. 



166 ESS A rS EDUCATIONAL. 

humanity cannot of itself get out of the wood of 
error and vice and ignorance and prejudice without 
the aid of a master who will guide it safely and 
reveal to it the knowledge of things in heaven and 
on earth. With the schoolboy and with humanity 
the road to progress and liberty is through a severe 
tutelage. 

The Franciscans made the language of the peo- 
ple the vehicle of spiritual thought. Dante in a 
happy hour made that language the medium of the 
highest philosophical thought and fixed its structure 
as a classic form of expression for all time. From 
that memorable twelfth day of August, in the year 
1373, when the citizens of Florence petitioned the gov- 
ernors of the Republic "to make provision for the 
choosing of a man learned, capable and well-versed 
in the doctrine of the ' Divina Commedia,' to read 
and explain the said poem every day not a holiday 
during the year," and the governors selected Boc- 
caccio; and Bologna, Pisa, Ravenna, Piacenza, and 
other cities, following the example of Florence, es- 
tablished chairs for the study of Dante — from that 
day Dante became the schoolmaster of Italy, keep- 
ing alive the fire of patriotism, accustoming the peo- 
ple to the sublimest truths sung in noblest verse, and 
through good and bad fortune ever keeping before 
the Italian mind such a high standard of thought 
that whoever was familiar with Dante was possessed 
of an education far more complete than that imparted 
by Homer to the Greeks of old. There were inter- 
vals when the study of Dante was neglected, still the 
nation owning such a classic might become extinct, 



UNlVERSirr COLLEGES. 167 

but it could not continue to live and neglect the pre- 
cious lessons contained in that priceless treasure. 
Dante is no longer the educator exclusively of Italy; 
he is fast becoming the schoolmaster of the most cul- 
tured among the other nations of Christendom. In 
taking leave of Dante we shall also take leave of col- 
lege life and college methods as they existed when 
the college was still in touch with the university. 



THE PRIMARY SCHOOL IN THE 
MIDDLE AGES 



(1691 



THE PRIMARY, SCHOOL IN THE MIDDLE 
AGES. ' 



THE Abbe Alain has made a specialty of the his- 
tory of education prior to the Revolution of 
1789 in France. The volume before me is one 
among several from his pen. It is not only a com- 
pendious summing up of the labors of others in the 
same field ; it is also based upon original research, 
and has brought to light facts and figures that may 
not be ignored. The learned Abbe is indefatigable. 
The amount of reading that has gone into any of 
the least chapters of this modest book is sufficient 
voucher for the conscientiousness of the work 
done. The book will prove a revelation to many 
readers. 

Time was, and that not very long ago, when men 
were convinced that in France primary education 
began after the Revolution. They could see noth- 
ing previous to that epoch but an ignorant people, 
deprived of all educational facilities for their chil- 
dren. That there was primary education, and gra- 
tuitous primary education prior to 1789, is still to 

1 Educational Review. 

"L'Instruction primaire en France avant la Revolution, 
d'apres les Travaux recents et des Documents inedits," par 
l'Abbe Alain. Paris: Librairie de la Societe Bibliographique, 
1881, pp. xvi., 304. 

(171) 



172 ESSAYS EDUCATIONAL. 

many an unknown fact. Nonetheless is it true, nor 
will it be denied by any person presuming to know 
aught of the history of education in Europe. The 
spontaneous enthusiasm with which men, in different 
parts of France, found themselves working upon this 
subject is in itself quite phenomenal. I cannot un- 
dertake to make a complete record of the books that 
have been produced, teeming with scholarship and 
all unanimous in their results, but I will glance at 
a few of the more important works. 

The first, to my knowledge, to let in light on the 
subject of the education of the people, was the 
erudite Director of the National Library of Paris, M. 
Leopold Delisle. In his learned essay, called "Etudes 
sur la Condition de la Classe Agricole, et l'Etat de 
l'Agriculture en Normandieau moyen age" (Evreux, 
1857), he dwelt upon the intellectual status of the 
peasantry of Normandy, and from original sources 
proved that people to have been well cared for as 
regards education. This was a side light, revealing 
an unexpected state of affairs. The book is a 
model of its kind, and has been largely so utilized 
in France. 

The next author to deal with the subject was M. 
Fayet. In 1858, he read before the Scientific Con- 
gress of France his first memoir on the state of prim- 
ary education in Auxerre during the past centuries. 
On the same occasion we find a similar memoir 
from the pen of M. Quantin. 1 Since that time M. 
Fayet has been indefatigable in collecting docu- 

1 " Congres Scientifique de France," 15c Session, tenu a. 
Auxerre en 1858, t. ii., pp. 115, 130. 



PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MIDDLE AGES. 173 

ments throwing additional light on the subject, 
and he has written some other valuable works con- 
cerning it. 1 

In 1868 M. IVLaggiolo read at the Sorbonne his 
important essay, "De la Condition du Maitre d'Ecole 
en Lorraine avant 1789." Since then he has issued 
papers and volumes, all bearing on the question of 
primary education ; but the main results of his in- 
vestigations are to be found in valuable articles of 
his scattered through the pages of Buisson's "Diction- 
naire de Pedagogic" 

Other works on the subject began to multiply with 
astonishing rapidity, and they furnish a striking ex- 
ample of what may be achieved when method and 
scholarship and untiring research are brought to 
bear upon a disputed or ill-understood issue. Thirty 
years ago, men might inform you concerning the 
Colleges of the Jesuits, or the Oratorians in France 
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but 
on the state of primary education, or whether it had 
existence at all prior to the Revolution, they were 
in total darkness. To-day, he would be a very dar- 
ing or very ignorant man who would assert, in pres- 
ence of an intelligent audience in any part of the 
civilized world, that there was no primary education 
before the end of the eighteenth century. It was 
with the sole view of refuting this assertion that the 
whole library of educational literature just referred 
to was produced. 

1 A.mong others, we may mention " Les f£coles de la Bour- 
gogne, sous l'Ancien Regime," Langres, 1875; "Recherches 
historiques et statistiques sur les Communes ei les Ecolesde la 
Haute-Marne," Paris, 1879. 



174 BSSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

There is scarcely a province in France in which 
archives have not been overhauled ; and facts and 
figures of all kinds have been pressed into service, 
and made to reveal results as astonishing as they 
were unlooked for. I shall not attempt an exhaus- 
tive enumeration of them. Beaurepaire has unfolded 
in three volumes the history of public instruction in 
the diocese of Rouen before 1789.' Quantin did the 
same for the department of the Yonne. 3 De Char- 
masse gave us invaluable documents bearing on the 
state of education in the ancient diocese of Autun. 3 
Babeau brought to light the state of education in 
in the department of Aube. 4 Armand Ravelet, the 
brilliant editor of Le Monde of Paris, in the intro- 
ductory portions of his history of Blessed John Bap- 
tist de la Salle, summarized such of these as had 
been published at the time of writing, and added new 
matter, the result of his own research. 5 These are 
but a few of the many works that I might quote. 
They have all been utilized to the best advantage by 
the Abbe Alain. 



1 " Recherches sur 1' Instruction publique, dans le Diocese 
de Rouen, avant 1789." Evreux, 1872, 3 vols., 8vo. 

2 " Histoire de l'Instruction primaire avant 1789, dans 
les Pays formant le Departement de 1' Yonne," Auxerre, 1874. 

3 " Etat de l'Instruction primaire dans l'ancien Diocese 
d' Autun pendant les XVIIe et XVIIIe Siecles," Autun, 1871 ; 
second edition, Paris, 1878. 

4 " L'Instruction primaire dans les Campagnes avant 
1789," Troyes, 1875. 

5 " Histoire du Venerable J. B. de la Salle, Fondateur de 
l'Institut des Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes," Paris, 1874. 
Leon Gautier has made further additions to this portion of 
Ravelet's work in a new edition, which he edited in French 
and which was afterward translated into English by the late 
Kathleen O'Meara. 



PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MIDDLE AGES. 175 

I shall now endeavor to give some idea of the 
primary school in the Middle Ages as we find it out- 
lined in such works and documents as have been 
mentioned. 

II. 

There is no time in the history of the Christian 
Church when schools did not exist, now of one 
kind, now of another. Even down in the catacombs 
we find next to the little chapel the schoolroom for 
the catechumens, where they had their own teach- 
ers, distinct from those who gave instruction to the 
faithful. 1 In the East we need only mention the 
schools of Edessa and Alexandria. We have seen 
that wherever monastic institutions were estab- 
lished, schools flourished. Then there were the 
episcopal school, the cathedral school, the parish 
school, the burgh school, the rural school, schools 
attached to the hospitals for the poor, — all of which 
flourished at one or other time during the Middle 
Ages, throughout Christendom. 

In the graphic pages of Gregory of Tours (539— 
593), we read accounts of poisonings, murders, wars, 
intrigues at the royal court, while Chilperic is dis- 
cussing Arianism and writing bad verses. But even 
in those lawless days there are indications that 
schools abounded. Chilperic turns grammarian and 
adds to the alphabet. Gregory says of him : 

" He sent orders to all the towns in his kingdom 
that the new alphabet be taught the children and 



1 Padre Marchi, " Monumenti delle Arti Christiane Primi- 
tive nella Metropoli del Christianesimo," Rome, 1N44, p. 172. 



176 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

that all books formerly written be effaced by the 
pumice stone, and written anew." ] 

Again, Guibert of Nogent, born about 1065, 
writing of education in his day, says : 

" Somewhat before this time, and even since, 
there was so great scarcity of schoolmasters that 
hardly a single one could be seen in the country, 
and not many in the large towns ; and even these 
were so backward in learning that they could not 
be compared with the class now (mo) to be found 
in the country schools." 

He witnesses a general revival of learning, — " see- 
ing how on all sides men give themselves zealously 
to the study of grammar, and the ever-increasing 
number of schools renders knowledge easy of access 
to the rudest men." 2 From this time on evidences 
of the existence of the rural school become more 
frequent. 

M. Simeon Luce, in the course of his historical 
researches, feels bound to notice its existence in the 
fourteenth century. He says: 

'* It is a grave mistake to imagine that there 
were no primary schools. Mention is made of rural 
schools in all the documents, even in those in which 
we would least expect to find it, and we can scarcely 
doubt that during the most stormy years of the 
fourteenth century most villages had their masters, 
teaching children reading, writing, and some arith- 
metic." 

Elsewhere the same author places before us a 
little scene, which she represents as occurring in 1377, 

l " Histoire," V., 45. 

2 " History of the Crusades," Preface. 



PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MIDDLE AGES. 177 

that brings home to us the schoolmaster of that dis- 
tant day finding difficulty in collecting his dues. 
Tassin de Loitre, such is the master's name, after 
drinking wine in the tavern of one Thomas D'Aunoy, 
refuses to pay. "And why not?" asks the hostess. 
"Because," replies Tassin, "you keep a cleric at 
my school for whom you owe me more than forty 
pence. 

In the thirteenth century out of a popula- 
tion of 90,000 in Florence, we find 12,000 children 
attending the schools, a ratio of school attendance 
as large as existed in New York City in the year of 
grace 1893. A statute of the diocese of Rouen, is- 
sued in the year 1230, reads: "Let the clergy fre- 
quently exhort their parishioners to be careful and 
exacting in sending their children to school." 

James Grant bears witness to a like multiplicity 
of schools in Scotland : 

" Our burgh schools," he says, " were not created 
by an act of' Parliament ; they had their origin in 
connection with the church, or were called into 
existence by the people themselves ; but in what- 
ever way they were founded, undoubtedly, toward 
the end of the fifteenth century, schools were planted 
in every considerable town in Scotland ; and the 
memorable Act of 1496, which has been so fre- 
quently quoted, assumes the existence of schools 
enough for supplying the people with knowledge of 
art, 'jure,' and 'perfect Latin.'" 3 



1 "Histoire de Bertram! du Guesclin et son Epoque : La 
Jeunesse de Bertrand (1320-1364)," p. 15. 

2 "History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland," 
P- 2 5- 

E. E.— 12 



178 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

Babeau, as the result of his researches, finds this 
state of affairs everywhere throughout France. "Ac- 
cording to a great number of traditions," he says, 
" school was as much frequented, if not more so, 
formerly, than it is to-day." 1 As early as 1500, in 
the Middle Rhine province, there were schools every 
two miles. In the annals of Wesel, under the year 
1494, there were charges for five teachers " to 
instruct the youth in reading, writing, figures, and 
church music." 2 

Nor were the parents of mediaeval days as indif- 
ferent to the education of their children as some 
would lead us to suppose. In the burghs and villages 
it was customary with fathers, when binding out a 
young son to learn some trade, or hiring him out to 
do manual labor, to impose on the master conditions 
obliging him to send the child to school at certain 
times and seasons, and to procure him elementary 
instruction. Thus we read that in 1398 one Jean 
Milles, in apprenticing his son as servant to a certain 
William Louvet, stipulates that the master shall find 
the child in all the necessaries of life ; among others 
so named are : " eating, drinking, shoes, clothing, 
and the being kept at school." 

Again, we read that in the year 1399, among the 
stipulations under which a minor is bound to his 
uncle for nine years, is one that the latter shall keep 
him at school during the whole time and shall see 



1 " L'Instruction primaire dans les Campagnes avant 1789," 
p. 41. 

2 Janssen, " Geschichte des Deutschen Volkes," i., pp. 
23, 24. 



PRIMA R 1 ' S C II ( ) OL IX MI DDL E A GES. 1 79 

that he be tonsured — fairc avoir couronne. ' This 
solicitude extended to the time when they could no 
longer look after their education. A customary ex- 
pression, found in the wills of merchants and artisans 
of the thirteenth century in regard to a child was : 
" Volo quod sibi provideatur in scholis." 2 

The clergy were equally interested in the educa- 
tion of the children. In the rural districts they were 
wont to teach school themselves. And in the eighth 
century we find a bishop of Modena, when investing 
one of his priests with an important parish in the 
city, exhorting him " to be diligent in keeping school 
and educating the children." ; A statute of the dio- 
cese of Rouen, of the year 1230, reads: 

" Let the clergy frequently exhort their parish- 
ioners to be careful and exacting in sending their 
children to school, since no one without instruction 
can be admitted to ecclesiastical benefices." 4 

Dederich Goelde, a Friar Minor, in a catechism 
which he wrote in 1470, thus speaks of the duties of 
parents toward their children : 

" Children should at an early age be sent to 
school, to honorable and worthy teachers, in order 
that they learn to be respectful and to save them 
from learning sin and bad habits in the streets." 5 

1 Tonsure admitted to the benefit of clergy, and was 
greatly sought after by parents for their children. We read 
that in the diocese of Rouen, from the Michaelmas of 1465 to 
the Michaelmas of 1466, there were tonsured 3954 children. Cf. 
Beaurepaire, " Recherches sur l'Instruction publique dans le 
Diocese de Rouen, avant 1789." pp. 53-62. 

2 Louis Guibert : " Dictionnaire de Pedagogie," Art., 
Limousin, p. 1594. 

"Cerruti, " Storia della Pedagogia in Italia," p. 95. 
4 Beaurepaire, op. cit., p. 53. 
"*Cf. Jansscn, op. eil., I., ]>. 22. 



180 BSSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

The Church was ever solicitous to maintain a 
supply of teachers especially for the primary schools. 
The Council of Vaison, held in 529, decreed that, as 
was the general custom throughout Italy, each pastor 
should have in his house a class of young men study- 
ing for the priesthood. These young men were also 
engaged in teaching the small children. And so, in 
the ninth century, one of the questions to be asked 
when the bishop makes a visitation of his parish, is : 
" Whether the parish priest has with him a cleric who 
can teach school — qui possit tenere scholam — and as- 
sist him during the divine services." ! 

Riculf, the bishop of Soissons, admonishes his 
priests that among other things they pay particular 
attention to the scholars confided to them, and so 
teach them grammar that they will not destroy its 
fruit by inaccuracy in their conversation/ The good 
bishop, in asking his priests to find a method of 
teaching grammar by which pupils could speak cor- 
rectly, was giving them a problem that very few of 
the schoolmasters of the present day have been able 
to solve. Later on we find the statutes of Troyes 
decreeing that every parish priest shall have dwelling 
with him a cleric who shall teach school, and that 
said priest shall notify his parishioners to send their 
sons to the church to be properly instructed by this 
cleric. 3 



1 Hineman, "Statutes of 852, XL, Acts of the Province of 
Rheims," I., p. 211. 

2 " Constitutions of the Diocese of Soissons," 889, Art. 
xvi. 

3 Statutes of the Synod of Troyes, beginning of thirteenth 
century, cf. Babeau, op. cit., p. 8. 



PRIMART SCHOOL IN MIDDLE AGES. 181 

Monasteries also supported a certain number of 
young clerics with a view of their becoming teach- 
ers. 1 And in each large monastery there were gen- 
erally two schools, one for those intending to enter 
the service of the Church, and the other for youths 
who were to continue'to live in the world. In 817 
the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle issued a decree which 
shows that masters were looked after in those early 
days. The decree reads : 

" If it should happen that the Brother who shall 
be charged with the care of the children should take 
little or no pains to instruct them, or should teach 
them other things than the subjects they ought to 
learn, or should have injured them in beating, let 
such be severely punished and removed from his 
office, and let this office be committed to some other 
Brother who shall keep the children innocent by the 
example of his life, and shall excite them to the per- 
formance of good deeds." a 

In the cities, as early as the eleventh century, 
chapters took charge of the schools. 3 

The schoolmaster in the Middle Ages, we may 
infer, was, up to the fifteenth century, generally a 
young ecclesiastic or a cleric who dwelt with the 
pastor, helped him to sing the divine offices, aided 
him in many ways, and generally acted as sacristan. 
Flodoard tells us of such a cleric who, in order to 
study, or for some other purpose, was wont to steal 
the oil from the lamps burning before the relics of 

1 " Beaurepaire," op. cit., II., p. 28. 

2 "Statuts et Reglemens des petites ficoles de Grammaire 

de la Ville, Cite, Universite, Faux-bourgs, et Banlieue dv 
Paris," Paris, 1672, p. 214. 

3 Choron, 2d fascic., p. 54. 



182 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

certain saints. His pupils, to whom he was teaching 
the psalter, informed on him. 

Even when not a cleric, the schoolmaster still 
performed certain functions in the church. Thus, we 
read the following articles of agreement, bearing date 
of July 25, 1699: 

" The said Gaillardet promises to teach reading, 
writing, cyphering, plain chant . . . and obligates 
himself to ring the bells when storm, wind, or hail 
threatens, and to sing at benediction during Advent 
and Lent." 1 

This formula embodies the traditional occupations 
of the schoolmaster for centuries. A similar docu- 
ment has been handed down to us from the Catholic 
days of Scotland. It reads: 

" Master Harry Henryson is taken bound to 
be the good, true, and thankful servitor of the ab- 
bot and convent, and their successors, during his 
lifetime, and to attend to high mass and even-song at 
the high solemn festival times, with his surplice on." 2 

In Paris, the master was expected " to preach on 
Palm Sunday in the Church of Notre Dame," or to 
pay out of his own purse for one to replace him. 3 At 
Pavilly, the master and his pupils were wont to at- 
tend mass on Sundays and solemn feasts in the 
chapel of the priory, where they chanted,, and after 
mass both master and pupils dined with the prior. 4 

1 L. Maglio, Art., Bourgogne in Buisson's " Dictionnaire 
de Pedagogic" 

2 Grant, "History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of 
Scotland," p. 23. 

3 " Memoires de la Societe de l'Histoire de Paris," t. xiii., 
p. 47. 

4 Beaurepaire, op. cit., p. 28. This dinner was called Truie, 



PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MIDDLE AGES. 183 

The connection of the schoolmaster with singing 
in the church, dates far back. Thus we read that 
when Charlemagne would change the system of 
music from the Gallic to the more efficient Roman 
system, he ordered all the schoolmasters to bring 
their antiphonaries to the chanters Theodore and 
Benedict to be corrected. Hence we generally find 
that the precentor of the cathedral is also the super- 
intendent of the schools. But we must not for a 
moment imagine that because of the offices he filled 
around the church the schoolmaster of mediaeval 
days was not held in honor. Such offices were not 
considered to be in any sense degrading. In those 
ages of faith it was thought an honor to be employed 
in the humblest manner with anything connected 
with the worship of God. 

" Men have been amused," says the Abbe Alain, 
" they have even feigned indignation upon seeing our 
old schoolmasters both teachers, chanters, and sacris- 
tans. These good Christians took quite another 
view of the matter. The humble duties they per- 
formed in the church were great in their own eyes, 
and far from making them fall in the estimation of 
pupils and people they added to their respect." J 

The General Assembly of the clergy of France, 
held in 1685, decreed that "the schoolmasters, 
clothed in their surplices, should be incensed in the 
church and should hold the place of honor above all 
the laity, even the aristocracy of the parish." 2 The 

1 " L' Instruction Primaire en France avant la Revolu- 
tion," p. 132. 

2 " Collection des Proces-verbaux du Clerge," t. v., pp. 
602, 603. 



184 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

teacher was, according to Merlet, " after the pastor, 
the man of the parish. He saw the child born ; he 
added his congratulations to the young couple pledg- 
ing their love at the foot of the altar; he joined the 
last prayers uttered over the tomb that was closing 
down on some departed one." * 

He was the counselor of families, the confidant 
of secrets ; when a letter was to be written, to him 
men and women had recourse. Not infrequently did 
he exercise some civic function in connection with 
that of teaching ; now that of notary public, now 
that of registrar, now that of lawyer, now that of 
mayor of the town. 2 He was held in respect during 
life, and his memory was cherished after death. Nor 
was the schoolmistress less esteemed. There is pa- 
thos in this inscription bearing date of 1687: 

" Catherine Ravigne, schoolmistress, was buried 
in presence of the chapter assembled, bearing with 
her the esteem of the whole congregation for her 
many offices of charity done to each and all." 3 

Moreover, the schoolmaster enjoyed many privi- 
leges from the state. He was generally exempt 
from taxation and from military services. 4 

The manner in which he was paid varied with the 
locality. Sometimes he received a certain stipend 
from the burghers or the parish. Sometimes he 
taxed each pupil according to the subject studied. 



1 Merlet, iii. 

2 For these and other instances see Alain, op. cit., pp. 
144, 145. 

3 C. Post, "Dictionnaire de Maine-et-Loire," t. iii., p. 379. 

4 Babeau, " Le Village," p. 231, sqq. 



PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MIDDLE AGES, 185 

A document of the thirteenth century thus regulates 
the stipends of a grammarian : The town was to be 
responsible for the payment of all the younger chil- 
dren within its limits not studying grammar, and the 
master should exact from them no salary. From 
those outside, the sum of five sols was required. 
Those studying grammar should pay seven sols and 
six pence ; and the grade extended to twenty sols. 1 
The poor were always enabled to receive instruction 
gratuitously. 

A decree of the town of Worms in 1260 reads as 
follows : " No one shall be excluded from the schools 
on account of indigence." Frequently the master 
received payment in kind, according to the local pro- 
ducts. The Abbe Alain, after summing up the 
results of those authorities who entered into details 
on the subject, says : 

" All things considered, the position of our 
ancient educators, as regards ease and competence, 
was scarcely inferior to that of their important 
successors in our own days." 2 

III. 

Such was the schoolmaster. What of the school 
itself? The primary or rural school was at first 
frequently held in the church, and it was only after 
a long struggle and reiterated synodal decrees that it 
became located elsewhere. Thus Reginald of Dur- 
ham, writing in the twelfth century, assures us that 

1 Compayre, "Etudes Historiques et Documents inedits 
sur l'Albigeois," Albi, 1841, p. 209. 

2 " L'Instruction Primaire," p. 133. 



186 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

it was the custom to hold school in the church, and 
mentions the incident of a boy who thought he 
would get rid of all his school troubles by throwing 
the key of the church into a deep pool of the river 
flowing near by. 1 The Bishop of Bayeux in 1662 
forbids the holding of schools in churches and 
chapels. 2 If the pastoral residence was large enough, 
school was held there. The children of all grades 
were assembled in the same room, and it was only 
after stringent legislation that the boys were sepa- 
rated from the girls. In the cities this arrangement 
was more readily brought about. 

The school books were few. The child had one 
book containing the alphabet and his prayers in 
Latin. It was sometimes called the ABC; but 
because it bore the image of the cross, it was more 
generally known as the Croix de par Dieu? The next 
book placed in his hands was the psalms and offices 
for Sunday. 4 

" It is undoubtedly to the study of the 
psalms," says De Charmasse, " made on the school 
benches, that we must attribute the universal 
taste which all classes of society in the Middle 
Ages preserved for the almost daily recitation of the 
psalter." 5 

1 James Grant, " History of the Burgh and Parish Schools 
of Scotland," p. 5. 

2 " Lettre Pastorale," p. 56. The little book on Method 
attached to this letter is rare and valuable. 

3 " Croix de par Dieu " is equivalent to " Croix de parte 
Dei." 

4 It was called the "petit Latin," and from its peculiar 
form the " Longuette." Cf. Babeau, op. cit., p. 39. 

5 " Etat de l'Instruction primaire dans l'ancien Diocese 
d'Autun," 1878, p. 22. 



PRIM ART SCHOOL IN MIDDLE \(;ES. 187 

The child was invariably taught to read Latin 
before he had learned to read in the vernac- 
ular. In England the custom was changed during 
the sixteenth century. 1 In France this was consid- 
ered the natural method, inasmuch as the Latin 
tongue was the foundation of the French. In con- 
sequence of this method, children were frequently 
withdrawn from school before they had learned to 
read in their mother tongue. The custom had 
begun at a time when Latin was the vulgar tongue. 2 
It was only in the seventeenth century that La Salle 
succeeded, amid great opposition, in changing this 
order, and teaching the French first. 

The old arrangement may seem to us a great 
hardship, but we must remember that we are dealing 
with a period in which newspapers were not in exist- 
ence and books were scarce and expensive. Those 
in the mother tongue were comparatively few and 
costly. Strolling bards made the people familiar 
with the substance of popular song and legend — 
the romantic literature — that ran side by side with 
the spiritual and theological writings of the period. 
Even for those who were taught to read in the ver- 
nacular, the amount of available reading matter 
was scanty, and did not extend beyond their cate- 
chism, with some Bible history, and an occasional 
pious book. 

In the thirteenth century a code of politeness 
was added. Advanced pupils were further taught to 
read charts and manuscripts. We find mention made 

1 Mulcaster, "Positions," p. 31. 

2 " Essai d'une jScole Chretienne," Paris, 1724, p. 293. 



188 ESSA2'S EDUCATIONAL. 

of prizes given for excellence in the reading of docu- 
ments. 1 When the student could decipher old reg- 
isters and dusty parchments, often set down in writing 
difficult to read, his education was considered com- 
plete. The master had nothing more to teach him. 2 
Teachers have been rejected because they could not 
decipher the deeds, charts and documents of a town- 
ship. 3 Those of my readers who have had any 
experience in deciphering all such documents cannot 
fail to respect the intelligence and patience of the 
teacher or pupil who had become expert at the work. 
In the seventeenth century pupils were taught to 
read books printed in the black-letter or Gothic char- 
acters. Thus, one of the earliest hand-books of ped- 
agogy says : 

" While they are learning politeness and to read 
manuscripts, the master shall teach them how to 
read in some book printed in Gothic letters, show- 
ing them once a day the characters, ligatures, 
abbreviations, and capitals in this kind of printing." 4 

Arithmetic in the primary school did not extend 
beyond a knowledge of numeration. Far into the 
Middle Ages the Roman system of learning figures 
and letters by means of pebbles was employed. 5 
Alcuin, as well as Isidore, sought rather the mystical 
meaning of numbers than their practical utility. 

1 Maggiolo, " Les Archives scolaires de la Beauce," p. 19. 

2 Babeau, " L'Instruction primaire dans les Campagnes," 
p. 40. 

3 Serurier, p. 54; "Archives de la Gironde," C. 328Z ; 
Alain, op. cit., pp. 168, 169. 

4 " L'Escole Paroissiale," p. 253. 

5 Cf. " Etymologia " of Isidore of Seville. 



PRIMA I?)' SCHOOL IN MIDDLE ACES. L89 

Only in computations bearing on the ecclesiastical 
year was any serious use made of them. Even Ger- 
bert gives only the teaching of Boethius,and though 
he simplifies the abacus, he does not introduce 
Arabic numbers, as had been frequently asserted. 1 

It was in 1202 that Leonard Febonacci, a mer- 
chant of Pisa, published his books on arithmetic 
and algebra, in which he introduced the Arabic 
figures, decimals, and another modification of the 
abacus. 

Vincent of Beauvais, one of the most encyclopaedic 
men of his day, popularized the system. Up to 1581 
we find no mention of arithmetic in the primary 
school. 

Mulcaster speaks only of " writing and reading " 
as the two things which children might easily learn 
" for religion's sake and their necessary affairs." a 
An arithmetic published in 1719, in France, contains 
numeration and the first three fundamental rules. 
The examples are all in the concrete, dealing with 
yards of cloth, casks of wine, and the like. The 
book was then considered a novelty. 3 

Writing was taught in the primary school. But 
as the schoolmaster was frequently the scribe of the 
village, and in the employment of his pen found an 
additional source of income, he was very slow in 



1 Chasles, " Memoires de PAcademie de Science," 1843. 

2 " Positions," p. 139. 

:{ It was called " Instruction nouvelle pour enseigner aux 
Enfants a connoitre le chiffre et a sommer," Lille, 17 10. 
Resbecq has an analysis of it in his very instructive and valua- 
ble work, " Histoire de PInstruction primaire dans leDeparte- 
ment du Nord," Paris, 1S7S, pp. 84, 85. 



190 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

teaching writing to his scholars, fearing lest they 
would afterwards supplant him as public scribe. 1 

In the fourteenth century writing is but little 
practiced among the people ; it still belongs to an ex- 
clusive profession. In the fifteenth century it ceases 
to be so exclusive, and we find that the bourgeoisie 
write. In the first quarter of the sixteenth century 
the signatures of all kinds of artisans begin to appear. 
At this period also do we find the writing masters 
organized into guilds, apparently for mutual protec- 
tion against the encroachments of other teachers. 

By a decree bearing date of July 2, 1661, primary 
teachers are circumscribed as to the amount of writ- 
ing they may teach their pupils and prohibited to 
teach special pupils unless they are licensed to keep 
a writing school, all being in accordance with a decree 
made in the year 1600. And in like manner, the 
writing masters were forbidden to teach any subject 
beyond writing, arithmetic, and orthography- — "for 
which purpose only they were permitted to use books 
in print or in manuscript, without abusing them or 
using them to teach reading except in the manu- 
scripts assigned and for the purpose only, without 
fraud or subterfuge." 2 

It was Jean Baptist de la Salle who broke up 
this monopoly, about twenty years afterward. In 
addition, the girls were taught sewing and knitting, 
and all the children were taught singing. Religious 



1 E. Rendu, " De l'fiducation populaire dans l'Allemagne 
du Nord," p. 8. 

2 Cf. Charles Jourdain, " Histoire deJ'Universite de Paris," 
p. 215. 



PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MIDDLE ACES. 191 

instruction pervaded the school from morning till 
night. The last quarter of an hour was daily given 
to Christian doctrine, and on Wednesday and Satur- 
day afternoons the children were taught the cate- 
chism of the diocese. Later on, in Paris, as com- 
plaints were made that the children were devoting 
too much time to catechism lessons, those of Satur- 
day were transferred to Sunday. 1 And that teachers 
be imbued with the spirit of faith and piety, they 
were expected to read daily in some spiritual book. 
The precentor of Notre Dame prescribes the follow- 
ing books : " The Imitation of Christ," " Lives of 
the Saints," " Introduction to a Devout Life" by 
St. Francis de Sales ; Catechism of Cardinal Bellar- 
mine, Catechism of the Archbishop, the Old Testa- 
ment — especially Proverbs, Wisdom, Ecclesiastes ; 
the New Testament. This is the spiritual food with 
which their piety was nourished. In addition, they 
were recommended to read two valuable works on 
methods of teaching, " Le Pedagogue Chrestien " and 
" L'Escole Paroissiale." 2 

Such were the subjects taught in the primary 
schools of the Middle Ages. Let us not censure 
them for their limited scope. We find it no better 
elsewhere. We turn, for instance, to the Moorish 
primary schools in Spain, and we find the children of 
the poorer classes learning, in their way, what our 
Christian children had been learning in theirs. They 



1 " L'Escole Paroissiale," p. 113. 

2 Statuts et Reglements des Petites Ecoles de Grammaire 
de la Ville, Cite, Universite, Faux-bourgs et Banlieue de 
Paris, 1672, Preface. 



192 BSSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

are taught reading, writing, and religious doctrine. 
The child first learns the Arabian alphabet. He is 
then taught the difference of letters according to 
punctuation, accentuation, sound, the composition of 
letters, and the other elements that enter into the 
study of Arabic words. He is afterward carefully 
drilled upon pronunciation. Finally he learns to read 
the Koran, which is for the Arabian the Alpha and 
Omega of all study. Here his education finishes. 1 
It is evident that the Christian mediaeval primary 
schools were not always and in all places kept up 
with uniformity. Nor were these the only schools 
in which children might learn the elements of 
knowledge. There were numerous private schools 
kept by a class of teachers who were known as 
grammarians. These grammarians seem to have 
been a restless class, passing from town to town. 
They were subject to pay a tax. 2 Erasmus has 
pictured them with a pen dipped in gall. He calls 
them : 

" A race, of all men the most miserable, who 
grow old at their work surrounded by herds of boys, 
deafened by continual uproar, and poisoned by a 
close, foul atmosphere ; satisfied, however, so long as 
they can overawe the terrified throng by the terrors 
of their look and speech, and, while they cut them 
to pieces with ferule, birch and thong, gratify their 
own merciless natures at pleasure." 3 

1 Henricus Middeldorpf, " Commentatio de Institutis litter- 
ariis in Hispania quae Arabes Auctores habuerunt," Goet- 
tingse, 1810, p. 53. 

2 Choron, " Recherches Historiqnes, Bulletin de la Societe 
Archeologique," fascieo 2, p. 69. 

3 " Encomium Moriae." 



PRIMARY SCHOOL IX MIDDLE AGES. 193 

This might have been a scene of frequent occur- 
rence, and yet there might have been, and no doubt 
there were, many worthy men belonging to the 
profession. 

Throughout the Middle Ages the level of edu- 
cation varied with times and places. The ravages 
of war, the terrible scourges of plague and famine 
that devastated whole peoples, were as disastrous to 
the progress of education as they were to that of 
life and civilization. The school, being sustained 
by local enterprise, varied with the fluctuations of 
local energy. 

What we might call the public school in France 
was created only in the fifteenth century, reached its 
highest state of efficiency in the sixteenth century, 
declined in the seventeenth century, and, under the 
new impulse given to all primary education by La 
Salle, revived in the eighteenth century. We are 
told that during the eighteen years of the reign of 
Louis XVI. more schools, both large and small, 
were founded and legislated for than during the whole 
French monarchy in twelve hundred years. 1 Paris 
was always a specially favored city as regards edu- 
cation. 

Independently of the schools attached to 
churches, eleven masters and one mistress figure in 
the roll of the land tax levied on the inhabitants of 
Paris by Philip the Fair, in 1292. In the fourteenth 
century we find record of forty-one masters and 
twenty-two mistresses ; in the fifteenth century, 

1 Boutiot, " Ilistoire de l'Instruction publique et popu- 
laire a Troyes, pendant les quatre derniers siecles," pp. 7-15. 
E. E.-13 



194 ESSA rS EDUCATIONAL. 

there are a hundred ; and at the close of the six- 
teenth century, the precentor, Claude Joly, enumer- 
ates no less than five hundred schoolmasters and 
schoolmistresses. The statutes regulating these 
schools date back to the year 1357. 1 It should be 
remembered that this was the period — from the 
thirteenth to the sixteenth century — in which the 
great University of Paris flourished and counted 
its students by the tens of thousands. 



IV. 

And now, let us take a rapid glance at school life 
as revealed to us. Then, as now, there was little 
uniformity in the age at which children were sent to 
school. The old French romances generally speak 
of the hero being sent to school and taught to read 
and write. This is true of Herve de Metz. 2 It is 
true of Garin, who knew how to read in Romance 
and in Latin. 3 Of another hero we are told that 
" when he had attained his twelfth year he was a 
full-blown bachelor . . . and had passed four years 
at school." 4 



1 Ravalet, "Life of Blessed de la Salle," illustrated edi- 
tion, p. 27. 

2 Bibliotheque Nationale, MSS. francaise, 19,160. 

3 Le Loherains fut a escoles mis . 
Bien savoir lire et roman et latin. 

— " Garin le Loherains," I., 179, 180. 

4 Quant ot xii. ans moult fu biax bachelier 
D'esches de tauble fut bien en doctrinez 
Et a l'ecolle fut bien iiij. ans passez. 

— Bibl. Nat., MSS., fr. 19,160, f. 3, § 7. 



PRIMA RT S CI/O OL I N MIDDLE A GES. 195 

Sometimes the hero was fifteen years before his 
schooling was finished, as was the case with the son 
of Parisi la Duchesse. ' 

James Melville, of Scotland, born in 1556, tells 
us that in the fifth year of his age the "grace-buik" 
was put in his hands at home, but he made little 
progress in it. At the age of seven he was sent to 
school at Logie Montrose. 2 During the first five or 
six days the pupil was placed apart from the other 
scholars and no lessons were assigned him. After- 
ward he was supplied with his A B C book, which he 
carried hung to his belt. 3 He also brought the^ rod 
with which he was to be punished. 4 The use of the 
rod was universal. We read of its employment in 
England in the eleventh century. 5 St. Louis, King 
of France, when a boy, was beaten with rods once a 
week. 6 Guibert of Nogent, tells us of the harsh 
treatment he received, and when his mother, seeing 
the welts and bruises on his back, wept and said she 
no longer wished him to learn grammar, he replied 
that even though he should die he would continue 
to learn and become a clerk. 7 All were not equally 
harsh. 

1 Quant l'anfes ot quinze ans et compliz et passez — 
Premiers apprist a letres tant qu'il en soi assez. 

— "Parisi la Duchesse," 11. 964-65. 
2 James Grant, " History of the Burgh Schools of Scot- 
land," p. 59. 

:1 Bibliotheque Nationale, MSS., fonds latin, 15,95:; : 
Anonymous sermon. 

4 Grant, op. cit., p. 61. 

5 Alfric's "Colloquies." 

6 Henry Martin, " Ilistoire de France," 4me ed., t. iv., p. 
133. 

7 "Vita Sua," lib. i, cap. 6. 



196 BSSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

Bishop Bertram speaks of St. Germanus of Aux- 
erre as a kind teacher, who not only gave him knowl- 
edge, but by his prayers led him to the honor of 
embracing the priesthood. Fortunatus draws a 
beautiful picture of this same saint in his cathedral, 
surrounded by the ancients as well as by the youths 
whom he is training for the priesthood. 1 Anselm of 
Bee stands forth pleading for mildness and stoutly 
protesting against the rod as the sole means of train- 
ing the child. " Can you by beatings," he says, " form 
the heart of the child and lead it to good princi- 
ples?" 2 But the men of that day and generation 
believed in the efficacy of the rod as an essential 
factor in education. 

School opened at half-past seven in the summer 
months, and at half-past eight in the winter months. 3 
The child was there generally half an hour earlier. 
On entering, his first act was to say a prayer on his 
knees. 4 One of those prayers has been handed down 
to us from the Catholic days in Scotland. It will 
bear repetition : 

" I thank Thee, heavenly Father, that Thou hast 
willed that the past night hath been prosperous for 
me ; and I pray that Thou wilt also be favorable to 
me this day, for Thy glory and the health of my 
soul; and Thou who art the true light, knowing no 
setting, Sun eternal, enlightening, supporting, glad- 



1 "Carmina," lib. ii., 8. 

2 Cf. "Christian Schools and Scholars," vol. i., pp. 418, 
419; Choron, fascic. 2, p. 74. 

3 Recueil des Ordonnances Synodales du diocese d'Autun. 
1685. 

4 "L'Escole Paroissiale," p. 67. 



PRIMART SCHOOL IN MIDDLE AGES. 197 

dening all things, deign to enlighten my mind, that 
I may never fall into any sin, but, by Thy guiding, 
arrive at life eternal. Amen." ' 

The children began the day's study by assisting 
at the mass. On their return from the church they 
took their breakfast. In those days, it was customary 
for every child to bring not only his own meal but 
also something for the very poor who had none to 
bring. 

Now that school has begun it would interest us 
to know the methods pursued in teaching. There 
lies before me an old woodcut of the sixteenth 
century representing the interior of a school. As 
customs were slow to change, we may take it for a 
type of the school in the Middle Ages. The teacher 
is seated in a large arm-chair, with a low-crowned, 
broad-brimmed hat on his head and a mantle on his 
shoulders. He holds in his hand a bundle of rods, 
and in his lap a large folio lies open. The boy whose 
lesson he had been hearing stands aside while the 
master is talking very earnestly to another boy with 
hat in hand, and we infer that the latter has come 
late and is to be duly punished. A long table runs 
down the center of the room, at which the other 
boys stand in various attitudes with open books 
before them. There is a low stool destined for the 
new comers. A small boy has his book laid upon 
the stool, while he himself is engaged with balls or 
marbles on the floor. In another engraving, bearing 
date of 1493, the same low stool is found, and on it 
sits the same small boy, holding his book out to a 

1 Directory of Aberdeen Schools, cf. Grant, op cit., p. 60. 



198 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

little terrier as though he would have the dog to 
read. In this engraving it is evident that the teacher 
employs exclusively the individual method. He 
knew no other. Each boy in turn stood before the 
the teacher, recited or read his lesson, and resumed 
his seat to give place to another. In the meantime, 
the remainder of the school was doing as it liked. 
The assiduous ones were occupying their time in 
reading or spelling, or arithmetic or writing ; the 
giddy ones were disturbing the others as far as they 
might do so with impunity. Much time was lost 
and only slight results were achieved. 

An anonymous pamphlet, issued about 1680, be- 
wails the loss of time that is the consequence of 
this individual method. "In our colleges," he says, 
"we find pupils of the same capacity placed in the 
same class ; why is not the same done in our primary 
schools?" 1 Another anonymous work, a teacher's 
manual, advises that children be taught writing at as 
early an age as possible so that they may have occu- 
pation, and to avoid disorder while the master is en- 
gaged with the lessons of each one. 2 Still another 
manual recommends that the more advanced pupils 
call up their less advanced companions every half 
hour to recite a lesson — a method "making as many 
masters as there are pupils." 3 On the whole, the 



1 "Avis touchant les Petites Escoles." It is to be found in 
the Bibliotheque Nationale. 

2 " Essai d'une Ecole Chretienne," p. vi., chap. 14. ^This 
essay is not to be confounded with the " Conduite de l'Ecole 
Xtienne," a work on the same subject by Jean Baptiste de la 
Salle. 

3 "L'Escole Paroissiale," Paris, 1654, p. 75. 



PRIM ART SCHOOL IX MIDDLE AGES. 199 

individual method was the only one known and ap- 
plied up to the seventeenth century in the primary 
school. This led to great waste of time. Jean 
Baptist de la Salle was the one to revolutionize the 
whole system of primary teaching by introducingthe 
simultaneous method. 1 

With the individual method there was necessa- 
rily an absence of emulation. During the Middle 
Ages we meet with few modes of recompense for 
work done in the primary school. In 1585, we come 
upon a class of Abecediaries, who, in presence of 
several wrote the same sentence, and he whose pen- 
manship was declared best received from the hands 
of the mayor " two pens and a penknife." 3 In more 
advanced classes books were given as prizes. But 
the best boy in the school was otherwise honored. 
And this leads us to consider the sports and recre- 
ations of the schoolboy of that day. 

I have now before me a most interesting old 
print, taken from a book of Hours, bearing the date 
of 1523. The subject is boys coming out from 
school. Some are flying a hawk ; others have hurl- 
ing-sticks and a ball, and one of this party has fallen 
down ; others again are testing their strength by 
standing on one leg and placing the soles of their 
shoes flat against each other and then pushing till 
one gives way. Another schoolboy game was this: 
At one end of an alley-way a suspended stick 

1 Cf. Andre, " Nos Maitres d'hier : Etude sur les progres de 
l'fiducation et sur les Developpements de l'Instruction popu- 
laire en France," Paris, 1873, P- 2 95- 

2 Maggiolo, in Buisson's " Dictionnaire de Pedagogie," i., 



200 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

supports a crown decked with ribbons. At the other 
end stood the scholars, and each in turn sought to 
knock down the crown. He whom luck or skill 
favored received compliments from his companions, 
and was crowned king of the Ncude. As such he 
enjoyed many privileges during the year. 

But the game that crowned all other games 
with mediaeval students of all grades, from the 
primary school to the universities, was cock-fight- 
ing. It was emphatically a schoolboy sport, and 
had its origin in the school. 1 The annual recur- 
rence of the day of les joutes de coqs was keenly 
looked forward to. We find the custom established 
in London about 1174. We learn that about that 
time, every Shrove Tuesday the boys were wont to 
bring their fighting-cocks to the master and during 
the whole morning they had cock-fighting in the 
school-room.'" After dinner they indulged in the 
game of football. In France, on the day appointed, 
all the students assembled in a large hall. Their 
birds were fasting, and were nourished with some 
drops of generous wine. The two first champions 
were placed facing each other over a plate of oats. 
They eyed each other for some time and then began 
to attack. The defeated one was withdrawn and 
replaced by another. The cock that floored the 
greatest number is victor ; his master is proclaimed 
king and is carried through the town in procession 
amid universal rejoicings. During the remainder of 



1 Leopold Delisle, "Etudes sur la Classe Agricole en Nor- 
mandie au Mojen Age," p. 185. 

2 Fitz Stephen-Pogge. 



PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MIDDLE AGES. 201 

the school year he takes the lead in all religious 
ceremonies and public reunions. 1 

In the rural districts and in the poor schools of 
the towns, where each boy could not afford to keep 
his own bird, the students indulge in the sport known 
as " Killing the Cock." In this case the bird was 
pursued and beaten to death. In many places it 
was the schoolmaster who, by stipulation, furnished 
the cocks for the occasion. Thus, in 1282, we find 
a schoolmaster at Dieppe held indebted for no less 
than four. 2 In 1353, the schoolmaster of Rameru 
was bound to furnish his pupils annually with a cock 
to be thrown at with sticks. 3 The practice was con- 
tinued down to recent days in some of the districts 
of France — and this in spite of protest and inter- 
dict on the part of Church authorities. Thus, as 
early as 1260 we find the barbarous amusement con- 
demned by the synod of Coprigni, presided over by 
the Bishop of Bordeaux. 4 

A day which the younger children celebrated with 
great pomp and ceremony was the feast of St. Nich- 
olas. On that day they chose a bishop from among 
their number. In many places the honor was re- 
served for the best and most studious boy. The 
chosen one was dressed up in gorgeous pontificals and 
borne in procession to the church with the accom- 
paniment of fife and drum and violin. He ruled as 
king of all celebrations during the day, and in honor 



1 "Histoire de Chateau Theirry," p. 168. 
2 Delisle, op. cit., p. 185. 
3 Ibid. cf. Boutiot, op. cit., p. 18. 
4 Labbe, "Concilia," xi., c. 800. D. 



202 ESSA 2~S EDUCATIONAL. 

of him the children of the school received presents 
and were feasted. Afterward a play was enacted in 
which St. Nicholas figured as savior and protector 
of person and property. He was frequently repre- 
sented, as in our modern pictures of him, in the act 
of restoring life to three children. But the playing 
of this role led to so many abuses that it was sup- 
pressed by act of parliament, and the schoolmaster 
permitting naked children to appear on the stage 
was heavily fined. The saint was also represented 
as finding stolen goods that had been placed under 
his protection. Champollion-Figeac brought to 
light one of those plays dating back to the twelfth 
century, written by one Hilary, an Englishman, and 
a disciple of Abelard. It is one at which Abelard 
himself might have been present. The play is very 
simple and rude, and is written in a mixture of Latin 
and French. It had been for centuries the tradition 
to write comedies, farces, and plays in the Latin 
tongue. We have now arrived at a point where 
there is a breaking up of the tradition. Latin is 
becoming more exclusively confined to the schools. 
But in the cities and large towns it was still under- 
stood by the people. 

Few were the boys there present who could not 
have taken in the whole sense of this play. And 
what with the robbers carrying off the stolen goods 
and what with the spectacle of a rude, angry man, 
loud in words and fierce in gesture, the play must 
have greatly amused the little ones. Barbarus, 
who impersonates a rude and ignorant man, confid- 
ing his treasures to the protection of St. Nicholas, 



PRIM ART SCHOOL IN MIDDLE AGES. 203 

places them at the foot of his statue. The treasures 
are stolen. Thereupon, Barbarus grows furious, and 
frets and fumes and bemoans his sad lot in having 
placed his goods in such bad keeping. He goes up 
to the statue, and with violent gestures tells Nich- 
olas that he must return the goods or he shall pay 
for them : 

Mea congregavi, 
Tibi commendavi ; 
Sed in hoc erravl. 
Ha ! Nicholas ! 
Se tie me rent ma chose, tu ol comparras. 

But words having no effect, he takes a whip 
and threatens to beat Nicholas if the goods are 
not forthwith coming. Nicholas goes after the 
thieves, and induces them to repent of their evil 
ways ; which they do, and they forthwith make res- 
titution. In fear and trembling these men bring 
back the goods to the place from which they had 
been taken. Barbarus thereupon becomes jubilant : 

Nisi visus fallitur 

Io en at 
Tesaurus hie cernitur, 

De si grant merveile en ai. 

In a transport of gratitude, Barbarus offers Nicholas 
all the goods, but Nicholas appears to him and ex- 
horts him to thank God alone: "Not to me the 
merit ; that belongs to God alone ; bless Him and 
bless the name of Christ." Whereupon Barbarus 
becomes converted. 1 



Hilarii Versus et Ludi." Paris, 1838, pp. 34-39. 



204: ESSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

And now that the play is over, let us also return 
from our short excursion to the primary schools of 
the Middle Ages. From the close, narrow, badly- 
lighted, and poorly-ventilated schoolroom of those 
days, with its dingy walls and low ceiling, we pass 
into the light, spacious, well-ventilated schoolrooms 
of our own times. But let us remember that in other 
days there were other manners, other customs, other 
standards of comfort, and another order of ideas. 
Our own progress is only of recent growth and has 
been very slow. Moreover, the seeds of that growth 
have been sown elsewhere, as the Abbe Alain has 
shown by placing within the scope of all the result 
of researches scattered through many volumes bear- 
ing especially upon education in the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries. 



THE SIMHttTANEOaS METHOD IN 
TEACHING 



(206) 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD IN 
TEACHING. 1 

jj|*R. W. T. Harris conceived the happy idea of 
<Q2? editing an international educational series of 
books on the same plan as the well-known interna- 
tional scientific series published by the Appletons. 
This volume of Prof. Painter's is a contribution to 
the series. We regret that we cannot recommend 
the volume to our Catholic readers. It is evidently 
modeled after the " Histoire Universelle de la Peda- 
gogic " of Paroz. But our recollections of Paroz's 
volume are that it was far more fair-spoken than the 
one before us. Had the professor contented himself 
with translating Paroz, he would have given us a 
better book. 

In treating Catholic education, he has imported 
into his work all the bile and bitterness of Raumer. 
But scant justice is consequently done to the grand 
role played by the Church and by great Catholic 
educators in the work of education. If Fenelon is 
praised, it is because the professor has mistaken him 
for a Jansenist. We do not accuse the author of 
deliberately misrepresenting us. In all probability 

1 American Ecclesiastical Rev iczv. 

" Management of Christian Schools." By the Brothers of 
the Christian Schools. New York, 1887. 

"A History of Education.^ By F. V. N. Painter. New 
York, D. Appleton & Co., 1887. 

(207) 



208 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

he never set foot within a Catholic institution; still 
less likely is it that he ever made a careful study of 
our Catholic schools and their methods. The sources 
from which he drew were poisoned, 

" It was in the library of the University of Bonn," 
he tells us, " nearly four years ago, as I sat before an 
alcove of educational works and leisurely examined 
the admirable histories by Raumer and Karl Schmidt, 
that the thought and purpose of preparing this work 
were first conceived." 1 

Later on he acknowledges his indebtedness to 
these works. Most valuable aids they are to the 
student of pedagogy, when he has antidotes to coun- 
teract the bigotry and prejudice pervading them. Pity 
it was he did not give more attention to Stockl, and 
the great work of Father Denifle, then just published. 

The author's omissions in treating his subject are 
conspicuous. He ignores the educational develop- 
ment of Spain, and yet La Fuente, among others, 
would have enlightened him upon the great part 
Spain took in the education of Europe. He has no 
word upon the educational progress of Italy. A 
glance at Tiraboschi would have shown him the mag- 
nitude of Italy's claims as an educator. The smaller 
works of Everardo Michele, Ceruti, and Milanese 
would have brought the subject home to him still 
more directly. 

True, all three are Catholic writers, but we can 
assure him that they are none the less trustworthy. 
Even when treating of education in France, the pro- 
fessor finds no place for the work of Blessed de la Salle. 

1 Preface. 






THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 209 

And yet, in another volume of this same series, we 
find that educator characterized as follows : 

"A man of progressive, modern thought, he intro- 
duced, besides normal schools, gradation and object- 
lessons, and established industrial schools, polytechnic 
institutes, and reformatories." 1 

Blessed de la Salle is especially identified with 
the Simultaneous Method. It shall be the purpose 
of the present paper to trace this method from its 
first dawnings to its full application by Blessed de la 
Salle. It is a study that has not been made in any 
pedagogical work that has come under our notice; it 
therefore cannot fail to interest the educator. 

First, let us explain what is meant by the Simul- 
taneous Method. There are three recognized methods 
of teaching. 

The first is that of hearing and explaining the 
lesson of each child apart, while the others may be 
studying. It is called the Individual Method. 

The second is that of having the more advanced 
pupils in a class to teach the less advanced ones 
undei the general supervision of the master. This 
method was brought from India by Bell and was 
popularized by Lancaster. It is known as the Mutual 
Method. 

The third is that of grading the children accord- 
ing to their capacity, putting those of the same 
capacity in the same class, and having them to use 
the same book and follow the same lesson under one 
and the same master. It is the Simultaneous 
Method. Now, all teaching is done by one or other 

1 Boone: '' Education in the United States," p. 126. 
E. E.— 14 



210 BSSA rS EDUCATIONAL. 

of these methods, separately or combined. 1 But at 
the present day, the method most in vogue, and 
which has best stood the test of time and experi- 
ence, is that with which the Brothers of the Chris- 
tian Schools are identified, and which is known as 
the Simultaneous Method. 

Like all fruitful ideas, the Simultaneous Method 
is not the exclusive property of any one man. Others 
discerned its value, and even partially applied its 
principles, long before Blessed de la Salle made it 
live in his work. We do not find it in the university 
methods of the Middle Ages. The mere listening 
to a lecture, taking notes upon it, and holding dis- 
putations over it, is far different from the Simul- 
taneous Method. Nor does it seem to have been 
followed in the Grammar Schools. 

The Jesuits organized each class in subdivisions; 
each division being headed by an advanced pupil 
called a dccurion, to whom the boys recited their 
lessons at stated times, while the master corrected 
exercises or heard the lessons of special boys. The 
whole class afterwards received explanations from 
the master. Order and discipline reigned. Emula- 
tion prevailed. The unpleasant picture drawn by 
Erasmus became an impossibility in their schools. 
But still this is not the Simultaneous Method. And 
above all, it only slowly dawned upon the masters of 
the primary schools to introduce these improvements 
into their methods of teaching. Theirs was ex- 
clusively the Individual Method. Each pupil passed 
in turn before the master, said his lesson, returned 



See "Management of Christian Schools,'' p. 34. 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 211 

to his place, and moped, or studied, or amused him- 
self as best it pleased him or as dread of the birch 
permitted. 

Such a system necessarily brought with it dis- 
order and confusion in the school, and led to loss of 
time on the part of the scholar. The consequent 
evil was irreparable for the poor child, whose school- 
days were limited. He quitted school, fortunate if 
he learned his catechism and how to spell through 
his Psalter ; rarely fortunate if he had advanced suffi- 
ciently to read in his mother-tongue and to write 
a letter. The child preparing for college spent 
seven or eight years endeavoring to learn that 
which might have been mastered in half the 
time. 

Mulcaster, in 1589, laid stress upon grouping the 
children of the same capacity upon the same bench. 
(" Positions," p. 234.) 

In 16 10, the evils of the old system are spoken 
of in a memorial dealing with the government of 
the university. It is beginning to dawn upon 
men's mind that the old way might not, after all, 
be the best way. This memorial is the first em- 
phatic protest in France that we have come 
across against the old way. The memorialist 
feels the necessity of some method for regulat- 
ing the studies and the teaching of children, and 
for preparing youths better for their university 
course. 

" Since our members," says he, " depend princi- 
pally upon the primary institutions, just as good 
health and natural complexion depend upon the 



212 BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

milk we take in infancy, it is due to the prudence 
of the magistrate, with the aid and counsel of 
experts, to provide some method to be used in the 
education of the children ; for doctrine without 
method is like a torch under a barrel, consuming 
itself without giving out a profitable light." 1 

He sees no reason why children might not learn 
in four years all that, in his day, it took them eight 
or nine to learn. He appeals to experienced teach- 
ers to devise some means out of this roundabout 
method, which consumes so much valuable time. 2 
To realize an evil is one thing; to remedy it is 
quite another. 

The university was too taken up with the 
struggle for its own existence against the encroach- 
ments of the separate collegiate system, to occupy 
itself with elementary schools. The evil grew 
apace. Elementary education in France reached 
its lowest degree of confusion during the first half 
of the seventeenth century. 3 The numerous wars 
of this period left little time and less inclination 
for the cultivation of peaceful pursuits. The eyes 
of the natural custodians of society were so dimmed 
by the dazzling brilliancy of the court of the Grand 
Monarch, they could no longer perceive the evils 
festering at their own doors. 



1 " Memoires pour le Reglement de l'Universite." 1610. 
Bibl.Nat. Printed Matter. Paris Universite (Generalites), 
1073. 24.115-2130, p.17. 

2 Ibid., p. 19. 

3 Boutiot, ** Histoire de ^Instruction publique et populaire 
a Troves pendant les quatre derniers siecles." Troves 1865. 
P. 9, " 



THE S/AfCLTANEOUS METHOD. 213 



II. 

Blessed Peter Fourier (i 565-1640) saw in Chris- 
tian education the remedy for many of the disorders 
existing among the poor and the laboring class. 1 
He was a far-seeing man, and anticipated more than 
one of our modern social improvements. In 1597, he 
attempted to organize a religious teaching order for 
boys. But the fouryoung men whom he had brought 
together for the purpose abandoned him. The work 
was reserved for another no less worthy. 

However, Peter Fourier was more successful in 
organizing religious teachers for girls. Providence 
blessed and fructified his labors in this direction be- 
yond his greatest hopes. He lived to see all Lor- 
raine peopled by the Congregation of Notre Dame, 
which still remains a monument and a witness to his 
zeal and his enlightened views. He gave this sister- 
hood a rule and constitution. It was first printed 
in 1640. The second edition, bearing date of 1694, 
now lies before us. 3 Therein the saintly author 
lays down rules for the management of scholars 
and methods of teaching such branches as are usually 
taught in elementary schools. To attempt to trace 
the history of pedagogy without allusion to this 

1 Rev. P. Jean Bedel, " La Vie du Rev. Pierre Fourier." 
Paris, 1666. 

2 " Les vraies Constitutions des Religieuses de la Congre- 
gation de Nostre Dame." Seconde Edition. A Toul. 1694. 
At the end of the volume we read : La presente copie des Con- 
stitutions ... a ete fidelement extraite sur son vray original 
sain et entier, et ecript de sa propre main, et se conforme de 
mots a autres, par le subscript Notaire Apostolique. Ainsi 
signe, F. Tabourin. 



214 BSSA rS EDUCATIONAL. 

remarkable book were an unpardonable oversight. 
There is wisdom in every line. It ranks by incon- 
testable right and title the parish-priest of Mattain- 
court among great educators. We shall note its 
salient points. 

Therein the principle of Simultaneous Method is, 
for the first time, clearly stated : 

" The inspectress, or the mistress of class, shall 
endeavor, as far as it possibly can be carried out, that 
all the pupils of the same mistress have each the 
same book, in order to learn and read therein all to- 
gether the same lesson; so that, whilst one is read- 
ing hers in an audible and intelligible voice before 
the mistress, all the others, hearing her and follow- 
ing this lesson in their books at the same time, may 
learn it sooner, more readily, and more perfectly." 1 

Read it how we may, it is the principle of the 
Simultaneous Method whole and entire. And yet, 
when this great man — who was in advance of his 
age upon every subject that he touched — entered 
into details of practice, he lost sight of the principle 
which he had laid down. In the very next para- 
graph, it is regulated that the mistress call up two 
pupils at the time and place them one at each side 
of her seat. Then, the author continues : 

" The more advanced shall read her lesson ; the 
other shall listen to her, shall correct all the faults 
she may make, whether in using the wrong words, or 
in pronouncing badly, or in not making the proper 
pauses. When she has finished her lesson, the other 
one shall read hers, and her companion shall likewise 
correct all her mistakes." 2 

1 Ibid., p. iii., ch. xi., sec. 6, p. 54. 

2 Ibid., sec. 7, p. 54. 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 215 

These two having read, two others shall come 
forward, and so on till the class is all heard. And 
here enters a rule that throws light on the source 
whence the European peasantry imbibed that gentle- 
ness and urbanity for which they are noted : 

"According to the number of mistakes she has 
made, she shall say an Ave Maria for the companion 
who has corrected her." l 

Elsewhere in the same chapter we read: 

" If any mistakes are made in reading, and they 
are not corrected by the companions of the readers— 
leurs compagnes apariees — the mistress shall gently 
correct them at the time." a 

The nearest the saintly author comes in practice 
to the Simultaneous Method is when, speaking of 
the younger children, he says : 

" In order the more easily to make the very young 
children profit of the lesson, the mistress shall take 
four or six at the time, of about equal capacity, and 
while one is reading, the other five shall follow in 
their books, saying after her the same words in a low 
tone." 3 

With beginners, he would have the Simultaneous 
Method practised on particular occasions : 

<; Sometimes they shall be exercised all together, 
by pointing out to them on a large card, and making 
them say, all the letters in a syllable and all the sylla- 
bles in a word." 4 



1 Ibid. 

2 Ibid., sec. 2, p. 52. 

3 Ibid., sec. 4, p. 53. 
* Ibid., p. 53. 



216 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

Again Blessed Fourier devotes a special chapter 
to his method. The chapter is an admirable one. 
It grades the school into three chief divisions ; ' it 
assigns special teachers to each bench when there is 
need for them ; 2 it places pupils of the same capacity 
on the same bench ; 3 it attempts to inspire at the 
same time devotion to the Blessed Virgin and an 
esprit de corps among the pupils of the same bench, 
by putting each under the patronage of Our Blessed 
Lady according to her feasts; 4 it seeks to create 
emulation by having a bench of honor and a bench 
of disgrace. 6 Here, also, the method that runs 
through the whole book — the method that is pecu- 
liar to Blessed Fourier — is distinctly stated: 

"Each mistress shall pair all her pupils, placing 
them two by two, one with the other ; placing together 
those most alike, not in age, or quality, or affection, 
but in knowledge ; in order that they may hear and 
correct each other, and piously compete for the first 
place, in recitation of prayers and catechism, and in 
reading." 6 

Such is the method of Blessed Peter Fourier. 
Sometimes he would exercise a class of beginners all 
together from large reading cards hung up in a con- 
spicuous place ; sometimes he would have all those 
learning to spell to work together under the dicta- 



1 Ibid., chap, vi., sec. 2, p. 19. 

2 Ibid., sec. 7, p. 20. 

3 Ibid., sec. 7, p. 20. 

4 Ibid., sec. 8, p. 21. 

5 Ibid., sec. 11, pp. 22, 23, 24. 

6 Ibid., chap, vi., sec. 10, pp. 21, 22, 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 217 

tion of the same mistress ; sometimes he would have 
the more advanced, when learning to read Latin, 
brought before the teachers in groups of four or six 
at the time ; always he would have the most advanced 
pupils heard two by two, each reciprocating the 
corrections of the others. This is indeed a great 
improvement upon the Individual Method. 

We are greatly indebted to Abbe Pierfitte ' and to 
M. G. Du Bois 3 for having called the attention of the 
pedagogical world to the rich treasures contained in 
the " Constitutions." But when they tell us that this 
is the Simultaneous Method pure and simple, they 
are calling it that which it is not. Equally great a mis- 
nomer is it to call the act of two children correcting 
each other under the eye of a teacher the Mutual 
Method. The essence of the Mutual Method is the 
dispensing with the teacher altogether. It is the 
pupil instructing the pupil. In the method of Peter 
Fourier it is still the teacher who instructs. The 
pupil's corrections are only for the purpose of keeping 

up attention. 

We may well call that method the Reciprocal 
Method. It is this method we find recommended in 
the teacher's manual for the city of Paris, the 
"Escole Paroissiale," edition of 1654: 

"Those who go to the master to read shall present 
themselves but two at a time. . . . The master- 
shall call the writers to his desk, two by two, to correct 
their exercises." 3 

1 Paper read before the Congress of Blois, 1884. 

2 VUnivers, Dec. 17, 1887. 

3 3 me partie, chap. iv. 



218 BSSA rS EDUCATIONAL. 

III. 

Another thinker and educator, in another part of 
Europe, about the same time, in the midst of wan- 
derings and persecutions, sought to solve the problem 
of educating the greatest number, in the least time, 
and with the smallest pains. Komensky (i 592-1671) 1 
was an ardent admirer of Bacon, and applied his 
inductive method to its solution. From the physical 
world he drew analogies for the intellectual world. 
This led him to fanciful and extravagant inferences. 
But he was observant ; he learned much from the 
systems of others, and feared not to borrow from 
them whatever he considered good and useful. Upon 
the " Janua Linguarum " of Father Bathe, of the 
Irish College at Salamanca — a book which had been 
translated into eight languages by 1629 — he mod- 
eled, even to the very name, his more popular 
" Janua Linguarum Reserata." 2 From Ratich he 
learned to unite the study of words with the study 
of things. From the " Ratio Studiorum " he inserted 
many a detail of practice and principle in his 
" Didactica Magna." 

Komensky asks : "How can one teacher suffice 
for any number of pupils whatever?" He replies 

1 Komensky — Comenius — takes his name from his native 
village of Komna, in Moravia. He suppressed his family name 
on account of the persecutions to which he was subjected as a 
Moravian bishop. He held wild philosophic vagaries, which 
he pretended to draw from the Old Testament. (See Franck, 
"Dictionnaire des Sciences Philosophiques," Art., Comenius.) 

2 " Inasmuch as they (the Jesuits) were the prime inven- 
tors, we thankfully acknowledge it." Preface to Anchoran's 
translation, 1639. See Quick's " Educational Reformers," pp. 
63-65- 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 219 

by saying that not only can he suffice, but that it is 
for the benefit of the class that there be a large 
number, inasmuch as it excites sympathy and emu- 
lation. 1 As the sun sheds its rays upon the whole 
earth, so should the master instruct his whole class ; 
each and all, intent of eyes and ears and minds, re- 
ceiving from him whatever instruction he imparts. 
Therefore he should not instruct single pupils pri- 
vately, outside of school-hours, nor publicly in 
school, but — omnes simul et semel — all together at 
one and the same time. 2 All of the same capacity 
should have the same book. All should listen in 
silence to the master. In order to lessen the fatigue 
of the master, he should be assisted by decurions 
in correcting the exercises. That he may control 
the attention of his pupils, he should frequently 
question them promiscuously on what has been said. 3 
One teacher, one book, one lesson for all in the same 
grade : this is an approximation to the Simultaneous 
Method. Charles Hoole (1610-1666) introduced this 
method of Komensky into England with most suc- 
cess. 4 His school was efficient and a model of good 
order. He attempted to propagate the method 
in a little work called "The New Discovery of the 
Old Art of Teaching. " 6 

But the method did not take root in England. 

o 

Indeed, the influence of Komensky was not lasting. 
1 See S. S. Laurie, "John Amos Comenius," p. 105. Eng. 



Ed 



2 "Didactica Magna," Amsterdam, 1657. Col. 103. 

3 Ibid., col. 104. His whole method is embodied in chap. xix. 

4 " Quarterly Journal of Education," 1867, p. 262. 

5 There is a copy of this rare book in the Bodleian Library. 



220 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

Rousseau and Pestalozzi followed in his track, and, 
unawares re-discovered many of his principles. 
" Comenius," says Buisson, "established nothing 
durable and definite ; he was simply an admirable 
precursor." ' The only part of his system that has 
survived, may be summed up in the formula : " Let 
all things be taught to all." Now this is an educa- 
tional fallacy. The mind simply stuffed with facts 
is not an educated mind. The mind so trained and 
disciplined that it knows how to use its knowledge 
to purpose and advantage, is alone the truly cul- 
tured mind. 2 

Mgr. de Nesmond(i62o,-i7i5), Bishop of Bayeux, 
independently of Komensky, was working at the same 
problem of method. In 1672, he distributed among 
his clergy a " Plan of Instruction and Education for 
Primary Schools." 3 We have before us, for our use, a 
beautiful copy, bound in vellum, of the Pastoral and 
the Method. The Pastoral bewails the absence of 
schools and the lack of competent masters. It re- 
cites the strenuous efforts made by the early Fathers 
and the Councils of the Church in behalf of Chris- 
tian education. It prohibits the holding of schools 
in churches and chapels. 4 This was at one time a 
general custom in country places and villages. 

Next comes the bishop's method. He also would 
answer to the question : How may large classes be 
taught in a short time by a single master? He enters 



1 " Dietionnaire de Pedagogie," Art., Comenius. 

2 See S. S. Laurie on Comenius, p. 220. 

3 "Diet, de Ped.," Art., Nesmond. 

4 Ordonnance 1662, p. 56. 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 221 

into so many practical details, and puts such good 
sense into all he says, one feels that if he were not a 
bishop he might have become an eminent educator. 
In the first place, he would classify all the children of 
the school. " The master shall divide his school into 
four or five benches, according to the number and 
capacity of his scholars." 1 He then assigns to the 
same bench children of the same capacity occupied 
with the same subject. The division is instructive as 
revealing an order of things different from that pre- 
vailing to-day. The most advanced scholars are placed 
on the first bench, and they are supposed to learn 
how to read French and manuscripts, and how to 
write and work arithmetic. In the second bench are 
placed " those who read passably well in their Hours." 
The book of Hours contained certain offices of the 
Church in Latin, and the child was to read therein 
before he had learned to read in his mother-tongue. 
A few years later, Blessed de la Salle — amid much 
opposition and many protests from bishops and 
clergy — introduced the method of teaching the child 
to read his mother-tongue before reading the Latin. 
In the next place, to each bench he would assign 
the same book. 

« We give the same book to each bench," he 
says " simply in order that all the children on that 
bench may receive the same lesson, and when one 
begins to read, the others may read in a low voice 
at the same time." a 



i « Methode pour instruire en pen de Temps les Enfants, 

P- 59- 

5 Ibid., p. 6o. 



222 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

This is a decided improvement on Peter Four- 
ier's system of reading by twos. Like Komensky, 
Mgr. de Nesmond goes to the root of the difficulty 
connected with this method, by showing how the 
children's attention is to be sustained ; for, he adds 
in another place, without this attention, " the 
method would not only be a delusion, but irksome, 
and even unbearable." ' The means he would adopt 
is the only rational one: "And in order to oblige 
those children — who should all have the same lesson 
and the same book — to read in a low tone of voice 
what one of their companions reads aloud, it were 
well sometimes to take them by surprise, and to 
make those least expecting it continue the lesson. " 8 

The wisdom of his remarks has not grown old. 
They are as true to-day as they were in his own 
day. They apply as well to our class-rooms in 
America as to the little country schools for which 
he was legislating. In order to awaken the child's 
intelligence, he suggests that the master be not too 
prompt in naming a word over which the child hes- 
itates, but rather to let the child spell it and make 
it out for himself. 3 He would have the lessons 
short. 4 It is of great advantage, he tells us, for 
children to do a little and to do that little well. 5 
Commence by the more advanced pupils, so that 
the others may learn from them, and that the 



1 Ibid., 


p. 65. 


2 Ibid., 


p. 64 . 


3 Ibid., 


. P. 65. 


4 Ibid., 


, p. 66. 



5 Ibid., p. 68. 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 223 

former may be occupied during the remainder of 
the school-hours in writing and arithmetic. 1 

The daily regulation is no less instructive. It 
reveals customs that are gone out of use. School 
opens at seven in summer and at eight in winter. 
The scholars bring their breakfast with them. They 
are taken to mass two by two. Upon returning to 
the school, they shall say grace before breakfast, 
standing ; during the meal, one of the more advanced 
scholars shall make public reading either from the 
"Lives of the Saints" or some other pious book, 
unless the master himself should choose to entertain 
them with their defects or their duties. 2 Here the 
page is lit up with a beautiful trait of Christian 
charity. It is recommended that a pupil go around 
with a basket and collect food for the poor scholars 
having none, taking care that insinuating or flattering 
children do not deprive themselves in order to gain 
the good graces of the master or of him making the 
collection. To this little touch of nature is added 
this other touch of grace : " And the poor shall say 
a Pater and Ave for those among their companions 
who have acted so charitably." 3 La Salle regulated 
the matter after a more gentle manner — and one 
less calculated to take away the merit of the act of 
charity by vanity or other human motive. The 
master should see that the pupils bring some break- 
fast, without, however, forcing them to do so. A 
basket is placed in the corner for whatever the 

1 Ibid. 

2 Ibid., p. 72. 

3 Ibid., p. 75. 



224 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

children cannot use. This is distributed to the 
poor children who have come without any breakfast, 
and the master shall exhort them to pray to God for 
their benefactors. They must understand, further- 
more, that if they are allowed to eat in school, " it 
is that they may learn to eat with wisdom, modesty, 
and in a becoming manner, and to pray to God before 
and after their meal." ' All this brings us back to 
other days, when poverty was generally allied to 
scholarship. In the fourteenth century we find the 
children of the College called Bons Enfans going 
out daily to beg for their sustenance. 2 

In the fifteenth century the poor students of 
Montaigu College went to the neighboring Carthu- 
sian monastery to beg their daily pittance with the 
other indigent poor. We know how mercilessly 
Rabelais lashes these Montaigu sparrow-hawks — 
esparviersde Montaigu — as he calls them. 3 The spirit 
of charity and prayerfulness reigned everywhere 
during these ages of faith, and healed the misery 
and supplied the indigence of poor master and poor 
scholar. These things are of the past ; but they are 
the welding and cementing elements that have made 
of the past a strong foundation on which to build 
up the present and the future. This inculcating of 
charity and gentleness and unselfishness was the 
refining and educating factor in mediaeval life. 



1 " Conduite des Ecoles Chretiennes," 1720. Chap, ii., art. 
p. 8. 

2 " Uit des Crieries de Paris : " 

Les Bons- Enfans orrez crier: 
Du pain! n'es veuil pas oublier." 

3 "Gargantua," liv. I., ch. 37. 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 225 

But we cannot linger over the interesting little 
book of Mgr. de Nesmond. We have found it a 
precious landmark in the history of pedagogy. The 
author groups and classifies the scholars ; with Peter 
Fourier, he gives those on the same form the same 
book ; with Komensky, he appoints officers to hear 
repetition of catechism, serving at mass, and other 
memory-lessons, while a class is reading before the 
master; but he has not conceived the Simultaneous 
Method. 

IV. 

About 1675, Charles Demia, a zealous and enlight- 
ened priest, founder of the Brethren of St. Charles, 
drew up rules for the schools of the city and diocese 
of Lyons. 1 They run along the same lines as those 
of Mgr. de Nesmond. The scholars are divided up 
into bands according to their capacity. The more 
advanced pupils taught those less advanced. 

" M. Demia," says Ravelet, "had the intuition of 
the mutual system of teaching ; at least he appealed 
to the good will of the older pupils, and established 
among them dignitaries who aided the master." 2 

In his general remarks upon reading he lays stress: 

" 1. That children of the same band be of the 
same capacity ; 2. that they have the same book, in 
the same print, and the same lesson ; 3. that each 
one follow, holding his finger or marker on the word 
that is being read." 3 

1 " Reglements pour les ficoles de la Villc et Diocese de 
Lyon." 

2 " Histoire du Venerable J. B. de la Salle, " Ed. 1X74, 
p. 64. 

3 Buisson, " Diet, de Pexlagogie," Art., Lecture. 
E. E.— t 5 



226 J2SSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

He further introduced a system which Venerable 
Caesar du Bus had borrowed from the Jesuits, and 
had applied to the free schools that he began to 
establish in 1592; namely, that of public disputation 
among the pupils on all the branches taught — cate- 
chism, arithmetic, spelling, politeness, and we are 
told, even " the method of making mental prayer " 
— those distinguishing themselves receiving clothes 
or other necessary articles according to their wants. 

In this manner were earnest educators groping to- 
wards the light, and out of chaos seeking to make 
order. But these were the exceptional souls of this 
period. The large majority ran in the old grooves. 
Small pay-schools multiplied. Even many of the 
clergy, especially in country places, kept pay-schools 
for small boys, as a means of subsistence. 1 It had been 
decreed by law that no child should be retained in a 
private school beyond his ninth year completed. 2 But 
the statutes were ignored or defied. Boys were re- 
tained years beyond their limitations. Professors 
were engaged for various branches, and the private 
elementary school soon grew into an academy rival- 
ing the university colleges. The university com- 
plained. Its halls were becoming deserted. We find 
it bringing action at law against that most active, 
most domineering, and most combative of Precentors, 
Claude Joly, for licensing so many boarding-schools. 
In the course of its argument, the university says: 

" Method-mongers, like searchers after the phi- 
losopher's stone, have always been in vogue, but it 

1 See Babeau,"La Ville sous l'Ancien Regime," p. 484. 

2 Statutes Henri IV., 1598, Art. 10. 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 227 

does not seem that they ever succeed. . . . It is 
safer and more advantageous to have children pass 
regularly through the ordinary college classes. It 
may be longer, but it is surer." x 

The university here alludes to the charlatanism 
practiced in many of these private schools. Every 
professor had his nostrum. Some pretended to be 
able to teach Latin in three months, and in six to 
have the student competent to interpret all classical 
authors. 2 Circulars as flaring as any of our own day 
were issued, announcing wonderful results and ad- 
vertising for situations for students who should finish 
with the master. 3 

In spite of these strenuous efforts to introduce 
method into primary education, we still find the old 
disorderly ways prevailing. In the latter half of 
the seventeenth century, a voice in Paris cries out 
against the inhuman discipline to which young 



1 " Factum pour PUniversite de Paris contre M. le Chantre 
de TEglise Cathedrale et ses Permissionaires tenans £cole a 
Pensions." Seconde Partie, pp. 22 sqq. (Bibl. de PUni- 
versite. H. F. a. u. 9, 1675-1677). 

2 Jourdain. " Histoire de PUniversite de Paris," p. 240. 
This, I dare say, was the foible of Ratich, which must have 
penetrated the schools of Paris about that time. 

3 Here is one snatched from oblivion: " L'orthographe 
francoise imprimce de puis peu, a rendu nos petits escoliers si 
sjavans dans 1'orthographe, qu'ils sont tout prets de combattre 
contre les plus grands maistres de cet art, mesme avec party du 
double contre le simple. Le champ de batailie est ouvert a 
tous venans, et a toute heure. 

"Si quelcun a besoin, pour son service, de petits garcons 
tout faits et bien instruits dans le Christianisme, bons lecteurs, 
ecrivains, et parfaits orthographies, nostre escole luy en four- 
nira a son choix. 

"C'estdans la rue Bourg-l'Abbe a l'escole de charite." 
Bibliotheque Mazarine. 274 A 1:i in-fol. 



228 ESSAYS EDUCATIONAL. 

children are subjected in the primary schools. It 
is still another protest against the old, confusing, 
roundabout manner of teaching a school full of 
children one by one. It is the voice of an educator 
— evidently a layman — of forty years' experience, 
whose labors, he tells us, were found worthy of the 
approval of gentlemen of the university, of the 
Jesuit Fathers, and of the professors of St. Nicholas 
de Chardonnet. It is a memorial pleading for a 
school in which to apply the same principles that 
Komensky, Peter Fourier, Mgr. de Nesmond, and 
Charles Demia had applied — " proposing to my- 
self/' says the author, " no other end than the 
glory of my God, and asking no other reward than 
His mercy." Y The voice comes to us out of a mis- 
cellaneous collection of pamphlets of the seven- 
teenth century. The collection is a recent acqui- 
sition of the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris. 

In the midst of schoolboy exercises, by way of 
translations from French into Latin, a eulogy upon 
Henry of Matignon in 1658, an account of the can- 
onization of Peter of Alcantara in 1671, and other 
tracts, is found this memorial, well written and 
clearly reasoned, but without name or date. M. 
Leopold Delisle, Director of the Library, kindly 
examined the pamphlet for us, and after carefully 
considering type, style, and matter, came to the 
conclusion that it could not be of later date than 
1680. It certainly must have been prior to 1690, 
for by that time the method of Blessed de la Salle 

^'Avis touchant les Petites Ecoles." Bibl. Nat., (p. Z. 
320) p. 6. 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD, 229 

was becoming the admiration of the people and the 
envy of the schoolmasters of Paris. 

The voice that speaks from the pamphlet has the 
ring of sincerity. After exposing the difficulties that 
beset children in their first attempts at learning, the 
anonymous author justly and considerately asks: 

" Were one designedly to oppose the good of chil- 
dren, and cause them to consume time uselessly and 
with great trouble, could one have acted otherwise?" ' 

He sees students classified according to capacity 
in colleges, and he wonders why no one thinks of 
applying the same method to the elementary school. 

"Why," he asks, " are these little ones deprived 
of the light, the beauty, the comfort, and all the ad- 
vantages that order and grading produce?" 2 

He pictures the ease with which a great number 
might be taught by the method in which " one master, 
one book, and one voice teach." 3 Farther on, in 
stating his method, the first principle which he lays 
down is the principle of the Simultaneous Method. 

"The primary school," he tells us, "should be so 
disposed that one and the same book, one and the 
same master, one and the same lesson, one and the 
same correction, should serve for all, so that each 
scholar would thereby possess his master wholly and 
entirely, and occupy all his care, all his time, and all 
his trouble." 4 

Still, although the principle is clearly stated, when 
we remember what these little schools were, and how 

1 "Avis," p. 4. 

2 Ibid., p. 13. 
:t Ibid., p. 13. 
4 Ibid., p. 19. 



230 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

they contained all grades of scholars, from those learn- 
ing their ABC out of their primer decorated with 
the sign of the Cross, 1 to those reading in manuscripts, 
we perceive at a glance the impossibility of carrying 
out this principle under a single master. The anony- 
mous author does not get beyond the regulations 
laid down by Charles Demia and Mgr. de Nesmond. 
They also speak of one book and one master. 

The voice is the voice of a precursor, feeling 
acutely the wants and shortcomings of his age in 
educational matters, but unable to remedy them. 
He advocates strongly public examinations as a 
means of exciting emulation.' He considers such 
examinations a powerful corrective upon both 
teacher and pupil. He feels the necessity of train- 
ing teachers before allowing them to assume charge 
of a school: 

"A shoemaker or blacksmith must learn his 
trade, but young men without experience, and who 
are themselves studying, are allowed to try their 
prentice-hand at the expense of those poor little 
ones." 3 

At the very time that this cry is going up in 
Paris, a saintly priest is quietly evolving the solution 
to all these problems. In 1681, Blessed John Bap- 
tist de la Salle had organized the Brothers of the 
Christian Schools, and had given them the Simul- 
taneous Method of teaching. What Blessed Peter 
Fourier touched, what Komensky and Mgr. de 



1 Hence the name to the child's Primer of that day, Croix 
de par Dieu;" i. e., de parte Dei. 

2 "Avis," p. 10. 

3 Ibid., p. 13. 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 23] 

Nesmond, and Charles Demia had glimmerings of ; 
what the anonymous memorialist could nowhere 
find and thought to realize, had become a fact. 

There is no uncertainty about the language of 
Blessed do la Salle in regard to the method he would 
have his disciples follow. It is no longer a single 
master governing a whole school ; it is two, three, or 
more, according to the number of pupils ; each tak- 
ing those of the same capacity and teaching them 
altogether. In order to give effect to this method 
he regulates the duty of the masters in their respect- 
ive classes: 

"The Brothers shall pay particular attention to 
three things in the school-room : I. During the les- 
sons, to correct every word that the scholar who is 
reading pronounces badly ; 2. to cause all who read 
in the same lesson to follow therein ; 3. to have 
silence strictly observed in the school." ' 

The pupils follow in the same lesson ; they ob- 
serve strict silence ; the master, in correcting one, is 
correcting all : here is the essence of the Simultane- 
ous Method. Glancing over the pages of the admir- 
able manual of school management which Blessed 
de la Salle prepared, we find scattered through them 
this principle inspiring all the rules of wisdom and 
prudence in which the book abounds. In one place 
we read : " All the scholars in the same lesson shall 
follow together, without distinction or discernment, 
according as they shall be notified by the master." 2 

1 " Regies Communes des Freres des if coles Chretiennes." 
Translation from the MS. of 1718, signed and authenticated by 
Brother Bartholomew, Second Superior-General. 

2 " Conduite des iDcoles Chretiennes." Avignon, 1724. 
P. i., ch. iii., art. i., sec. i., p. 19. 



232 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

On the page following it is said ; " All the scholars 
in each lesson shall have the same book and shall be 
given the same lesson." 1 A few pages further on 
we find the same thing repeated : " All shall have 
but one lesson, and whilst one spells or reads, all the 
others shall follow, those who spell and read as well 
as those only reading." 2 Again he generalizes the 
principle for all the lessons : 

" In all the lessons from alphabet-cards, sylla- 
baries, and other books, whether French or Latin, 
and even during arithmetic, while one reads, all the 
others of the same lesson shall follow ; that is, they 
shall read to themselves from their books without 
making noise with their lips what the one reading 
pronounces aloud from his book." 3 

Note the expressions: in all the lessons . . . all 
the others . . . shall follow. The four or six pu- 
pils of Peter Fourier, or the whole bench of children 
of Charles Demia and Mgr. Nesmond, following that 
which one is reading, whilst all the others are occu- 
pied as best they may, is a far different thing from 
that of the whole class following in silence the one 
who reads, whilst the master corrects, or has the 
pupils to correct, the mistakes that are made. In 
order to sustain the attention of the pupils, the saintly 
founder would have him who is called upon to con- 
tinue not to repeat a word or syllable that has been 
read. 4 With truth has Matthew Arnold said, in speak- 



1 Ibid., 


p. 18. 


2 Ibid,, 


P- 33- 


3 Ibid., 


p. 120. 


4 Ibid., 


p. io; see also p. 120. 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 233 

ing of this handbook of methods: " Later works on 
the same subject have little improved the precepts, 
while they entirely lack the unction." ' 

We might quote pages from this precious hand- 
book, applying the Simultaneous Method to all the 
details of school life with a precision and directness 
that bespeak the master-mind. But it is needless. 
The method has not only been embedded in a book, 
it has also been embodied in a living organism, that 
has preserved its traditions with the greatest fidelity, 
and that still applies them the world over. Because 
we all of us have been trained according to this 
method, and see it practised in nearly all our public 
and many of our private schools throughout the land, 
and have ceased to find it a subject of wonder, we 
may be inclined to undervalue its importance. Not 
so was it regarded in the days of La Salle. Then a 
Brothers' School was looked upon with admiration. 
Strangers were shown it as a curiosity worth visiting. 
It is thus that two merchants of Marseilles are intro- 
duced into the Brothers' Schools of Avignon. On 
their return, so highly did they speak of the " dis- 
cipline of the schools, the piety of the masters, and 
the novelty of the method," 2 that they induced their 
townsmen to establish similar schools, which in their 
turn also became the admiration of all who witnessed 
their working. 3 

1 "The Popular Education of France," London, 1861, p. 15. 

2 " Ravelet," p. 369. What especially struck the Marseilles 
merchants was the manner in which a large number of children 
was taught altogether and at the same time, with verj few words 
on the part of the masters. 

3 Ibid., p. 383. 



234 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

This method, as practised by the Brothers to-day, 
is still the same in principle with that taught by their 
Blessed Founder. The requirements of the present 
may have enlarged the course of studies ; the accumu- 
lated experiences of two centuries may have modified 
some details and added others; but the broad outlines 
and working principle have remained unchanged. 
Speaking of the teaching manual of La Salle, Ravelet 
says with truth : 

" If we take a recent copy of this little book, and go 
back from edition to edition up to the first type, not- 
ing in each what has been suppressed or added, we 
shall be astonished to find how almost alike the latest 
one is to that emanating from the founder's hands. 
The rules are the same; the hints and counsels are 
the same; the expressions, many of them, are the 
same. In these latter days more stress is laid upon 
developing the child's intelligence and making less use 
of mechanical processes. The minds of our children, 
having in their present environments an earlier de- 
velopment than those of children formerly, admit of 
this amelioration ; but withal the principle of the 
method has not changed. La Salle had at first glance 
discovered all that should be done, and there re- 
mained but to follow in the path traced out by his 
genius." ' 

Not that La Salle did not make a careful study 
of the schools and methods within his reach, and 
take from them whatever he found good and useful. 
His was too practical a mind to do otherwise. We 
are told in the earliest edition of the school-manual 
that has come down to us — that of 1 724 — how from 

1 " Histoire du Venerable J. B. de la Salle," Ed. 1874, pp. 
260, 261. 



THE SIM UL TA NE O US ME TH OD. 2 3 5 

time to time hints and suggestions were adopted, 
according as the work progressed and the Brothers 
were gaining experience, and his own observations 
multiplied. In 1708, he writes to Brother Gabriel 
Drolin in Rome, asking for information concerning 
the rules, management, and government of the Fiarist 
schools there established by St. Joseph Calasanzio. 1 
In 1 714, we find him stopping over at Lyons for sev- 
eral days, in order to examine the working of Charles 
Demia's schools. 2 

We take in hand the latest English version of 
Blessed de La Salle's admirable school-manual. We 
open it at the fifth chapter, dealing with teaching 
and method. We there find, within the compass of 
eight pages, as clear, concise, practical, and efficient 
a body of rules for teaching with method and draw- 
ing out the intelligence of the child, as can be found 
in the whole range of the literature of pedagogy. 
First, we are told what method is, how it is based 
upon principles, and therefore not arbitrary ; how 
these principles "are grounded in the subjects to be 
imparted, and in the intellect to be taught." Then 
method in teaching is defined "to consist in the 
selection, arrangement, and employment of means 
and processes the most fitting to bring the minds of 
pupils in certain branches of study to a certain degree 
of development." 3 Already the student of Method- 
ology has opened up to him a field of speculation on 



1 Ibid., p. 345. 

2 Ibid., p. 447. 

3 " Management of Christian Schools," New York, 1887, 
P- 3 1 - 



236 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

which volumes have been written and fruitful vol- 
umes still remain to be written. The practical rules 
for teaching with method are simply and concisely 
stated. 

" The master who teaches with method observes 
the following rules : I. He determines the relative 
intelligence of every child in his class. 2. He adapts 
his language and explanations to the general capacity 
of his class, and is careful never to neglect the duller 
pupils. 3. He makes sure that the pupils know the 
meaning of the words they employ. 4. He advances 
from the simple to the complex, from easy to diffi- 
cult. 5. He makes it a special point to insist greatly 
on the elementary part of each subject; not to ad- 
vance till the pupils are well grounded on what 
goes before. ... 9. To state but few principles 
at a time, but to explain them well. ... 10. To 
speak much to the eyes of the pupils, making use of 
the blackboard. . . . II. To prepare every les- 
son carefully. 12. To place no faulty models or stand- 
ards before the pupils ; always to speak to them in 
a sensible manner, expressing one's self in correct 
language, good English, and with clearness and pre- 
cision. 13. To employ none but exact definitions 
and well-founded divisions. . . . 18. To assert 
nothing without being positively certain of its truth, 
especially as regards facts, definitions, or principles. 
19. To make frequent use of the system of question 
and answer." l 

Then come twenty rules laid down concerning the 
mode of putting questions and receiving answers: 

" Every question should be clear, brief, special, 
and adapted to the capacity of the pupils. . . . 
Questions should generally begin according to a 

1 "Management of Christian Schools," chap, v., art. ii., 
PP- 31-33- 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 237 

certain order, so as to retain the connection of all 
the parts, and lead up to the proper development 
of the lesson ; in recapitulations, however, this rule 
might be profitably departed from. . . . The 
pupils should be taught not to answer too hastily, 
but to reflect first on thequestion put to them. . . . 
When the master gives an answer it should possess 
the following qualities : it should be brief ; it should 
be clear and exact ; it should be adapted to the capac- 
ity of the average, and even of the most deficient 
pupil ; it should express a complete meaning, inde- 
pendently of the question." l 

The rules that we have omitted from these 
extracts are no less to the point. They all bespeak 
the same practical good sense. They reveal an 
intimate knowledge of boy-nature. Written to 
cover the requirements of men engaged in elemen- 
tary teaching, the rules of this school-manual stand 
for all time, and are equally applicable to the teach- 
ing of higher studies. They are the same rules by 
which Blessed de la Salle prepared the sons of the 
noblemen who followed James II. to France for 
positions of trust in the land of their exile. They 
are the principles by which, under his supervision, 
his disciples made the boarding-school of St. Yon the 
most successful and advanced polytechnic school 
of its day. They are the principles with which 
he indoctrinated the young teachers he sent forth 
from the normal schools which he had established. 
They prevail to-day in the workshops of St. 
Nicholas at Paris, and in those of the Catholic Pro- 
tectory of New York ; in the chemical laboratory 
1 " Management of Christian Schools," chap, v., Art. iv., 

vv- 35-38. 



238 BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

of the Brothers' house at Passy, and in the science 
room of their college at Tooting ; in their language 
courses at Cairo, and in their literary and philo- 
sophic courses at Manhattan. They prevail, above 
all, in the innumerable parish schools that the 
Brothers conduct the world over. They prevail in 
all the class-rooms of all the lay religious teaching 
orders of men and women, who have now more or 
less modeled their methods upon that of Blessed 
de la Salle. 

They have become the principles which, I doubt 
not, are daily inculcated in this hall, and on which 
all sound teaching is conducted at the present day. 

The Church, in crowning him Blessed, has most 
fittingly given to popular education a patron. He 
is the benefactor of the modern schoolmaster. He 
it was who raised primary teaching out of the ruts 
of never-ending routine, carried on in the midst of 
time-honored noise and confusion, and, in giving it 
principles and a method, made of it a science. He 
hedged in the dignity of the schoolmaster. He was 
the first to assert the exclusive right of the master to 
devote his whole time to his school-work. Prior to 
him, teachers, if clerics, were ecclesiastics with a 
varying round of parish-duties to perform likewise, 
or were students making their own studies for the 
priesthood ; if laymen, they sang at the public 
offices of the church, rang the bells and performed 
the functions of sacristan. Not that such functions 
were at all considered as degrading. On the con- 
trary, in those ages of faith it was thought an honor 
to serve in the house of God in any the most menial 



THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 239 

capacity. 1 Here was the usual formula of agree- 
ment to which the teacher subscribed : 

" The aforesaid Gaillardet promises to teach read- 
ing, writing, ciphering, and plain-chant. . . . He 
also obligates himself to ring the priory bells when 
storms, tempests, or hail-showers threaten, and to 
sing in the said priory during Advent and Lent." 2 

These terms sound strange to modern ears; but 
they bring us nearer to, and throw light upon, other 
times and other customs. The outside services were 
distracting. They left little or no time for prepara- 
tion of lessons. Blessed de la Salle, through much op- 
position and no small persecution on account thereof, 
withdrew the Brothers from all such distractions. He 
brought home to them that their calling was one 
worthy of their whole energy and their undivided 
attention. "The new institute set out with this 
thought, that teaching is less a career or instrument 
of fortune, than that it is the most elevated expres- 
sion of the spirit of sacrifice and devotedness." 3 Nor 
is this all. 

La Salle broke down the barriers of exclusiveness 
that confined the schoolmaster to certain subjects, 
beyond which he dare not go, to the detriment of 
poor children. Thus, a decree of 1661 forbade the 
teachers of elementary schools to instruct their pupils 
in writing beyond the merest elements, without a 

1 Alain, " L'Instruction Primaire avant la Revolution," p. 
132. 

2 L. Maggiolo, Art., Bourgogne, in Buisson's " Diction- 
naire de Pedagogic" 

3 De Charmasse, "L'Instruction Prifnaire dans l'Ancien 
Diocese d'Autun," p. 41. 



240 ESSA2S EDUCATIONAL. 

writingmaster's license; while on the other hand 
writingmasters were also restricted in their subjects. 2 
By ignoring these distinctions, introducing the mod- 
ern, simple, and more efficient method of writing, 
and enlarging the whole course of popular instruc- 
tion, Blessed de la Salle drew upon himself and his 
disciples the enmity of the writingmasters, and eman- 
cipated the youth of France from their thraldom. 
Still more: in making, for the first time in the history 
of education, the mother-tongue the basis of all in- 
struction, he appealed to the intelligence of the child, 
prepared the way for the study of national literature, 
and opened up to the grown man avenues of knowl- 
edge and amusement that had hitherto been encum- 
bered with rubbish. His was the merit of the pioneer. 
And if to-day the artisan and the workingman, the 
world over, can read and write and discuss intelli- 
gently all the political and social issues of the hour, 
they owe it in great measure to the method of teach- 
ing completed and perfected by Blessed de la Salle and 
his disciples, the Brothers of the Christian Schools. 
2 Ch. Jourdain, " Histoire de l'Universite de Paris," p. 215. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE NORMAL? 
SCHOOL? 



E. E.— 16 (24O 



BEGINNINGS OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL. 1 

I. 

P~~OR more than half a century Dr. Henry Bar- 
nard has been active in sowing broadcast the 
seeds of educational wisdom. " Declining numerous 
calls," says a friend and admirer, " to high and lucra- 
tive posts of local importance and influence, he lias 
accepted the whole country as the theatre of his op- 
erations, without regard to State lines, and by the 
extent, variety and comprehensiveness of his efforts, 
he has earned the title of the American Educator." 5 
He went abroad and studied the educational sys- 
tems and the educational methods of the various 
countries of Europe, and returned laden with the 
experiences of the older civilization. He explained 
to his countrymen what was being done for all grades 
of education in France and Germany, in Italy and 
Austria and Switzerland, and England and Ireland; 
he brought home valuable documents giving facts 
and figures and suggesting improvements in methods. 
Nor did heccnfine his observations to state institu- 
tions. He also sat on the benches of the schools 
conducted by the Jesuits and the Christian Broth- 



1 "Normal Schools, and other Institutions, Agencies, ami 
Means designed lor the Professional Education of Teachers." 
I'.v 1 leiirv Barnard, 1 [artford. 

2 John W, Stedman in the Massachusetts Teacher, Janu- 
ary, 1858. 

(213) 



244 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

ers, and found much to admire in their educational 
methods, and without prejudice revealed the secrets 
of their great success. He went back to the educa- 
tional traditions of the early Christian schools, and 
feared not to speak the truth, so far as he knew it, 
concerning the efforts of the Catholic Church to pre- 
serve learning and maintain schools during the ages 
of violence through which she was striving to civilize 
the barbarians who overran Europe. Pamphlet after 
pamphlet and volume after volume has he issued, 
embodying the past and the present of educational 
reformers and educational schemes, for the study 
and reflection of American teachers. This was a 
noble work, and nobly and well, according to his 
lights, did Dr. Henry Barnard perform it. All edu- 
cators, knowing the man and his work, knowing the 
devotedness and the singleness of purpose with 
which he labored during the past fifty years, will 
agree that he is worthy of any recognition, no mat- 
ter how emphatic. 

The present volume on Normal Schools occupies 
659 closely printed pages. It makes a survey of the 
workings of teachers' seminaries in Europe and the 
United States, and gives a rapid historical sketch of 
their establishment in various countries. We in 
America borrowed our conception of the normal 
school from Germany, but the idea was conceived 
long before Germany had begun to make it a reality. 
As Dr. Barnard has not traced the origin and growth 
of the professional school for teachers, it may be of 
interest to do so and afterwards dwell upon the scope 
and function of such an institution. 



BEGINNINGS OF NORMAL SCHOOL. 245 



II. 

To every thoughtful teacher, in every age and 
clime, there must have frequently occurred the all- 
important question, " How can I best convey instruc- 
tion to my pupils ? " And every successful teacher, 
after much experimenting and overcoming many diffi- 
culties, has managed to hit upon the method best 
suited to his talent and temperament on the one 
hand, and on the other to the capacities of the chil- 
dren under his charge. With religious orders, from 
the days of St. Benedict to the present time, teach- 
ing has held an important place, and educational tra- 
ditions embodying the combined experiences of sev- 
eral successful members were handed down from gen- 
eration to generation, and acted upon and developed 
to a certain extent. 

A century after the time of St. Benedict we find 
the Benedictine Common Rule insisting that the 
master who instructs the young religious shall be 
skilful. 1 Alcuin did much in his day to simplify in- 
struction ; on one occasion we come upon him giving 
the Archbishop of York a leaf out of his experience 
as regards the best method of dividing and grading 
the classes of a school. Later on, educational tradi- 
tions are carefully cherished by the Brothers of the 
Common Life. Both John Sturm and the Jesuits 
learned from them many points in their systems of 
instruction. It is amusing to hear Sturm, forgetting 

1 Cap. i. See Mabillon," Etudes Monastiques," Pari?, 1691, 
p. 47. 



246 ESS ATS EDUCATIONAL. 

the common source, speak of the method of the Jesuits 
as " a method so nearly like ours that it appears as 
if they had copied from us." ' Now, while we would 
not detract one iota from the merits of Sturm as an 
organizer and educator, we must confess that we look 
upon the Jesuits as the legitimate depositaries of the 
traditions in which Thomas a Kempis was educated, 
for they were preservers of the faith that inspired 
"The Imitation," while Sturm was organizing an ad- 
verse force to destroy that faith. 

Before the close of the sixteenth century the 
Blessed Peter Fourier of Mattaincourt, who possessed 
advanced ideas upon every subject to which he gave 
thought, prepared an admirable school-manual for the 
Congregation of Notre Dame, which sisterhood he 
had organized. Alain, speaking of primary educa- 
tion in France during the two centuries preceding the 
Revolution, says : " In reality, the first normal schools 
were the novitiates of the teaching orders established 
during the last two centuries." 2 But these methods 
and traditions did not become public property; they 
were confined exclusively to the members of the re- 
ligious orders possessing them. Lay teachers had no 
share in them beyond the glimpses they got when re- 
ceiving instruction as children. Lord Bacon saw the 
necessity of proper methods of teaching in his day, 
and wrote: "The art of well delivering the knowl- 
edge we possess is among the secrets left to be dis- 
covered by future generations." 



1 Barnard, " Education in Germany," p. 233. 

2 " L'Instruction Primaire en France avant la Revolution, 
:2 9 . 



BEGINNINGS OF NORMAL SCHOOL. 247 

When we undertake to seek in our educational 
literature the origin of the normal school we are met 
with vagueness and absence of documents. We turn 
to Buisson's " Dictionnaire del' Education." This is 
on the whole a valuable work. Many of the articles 
are solid and trustworthy. Many also are mere rub- 
bish. M. Buisson and some of his co-laborers have 
their intellectual vision limited by the Revolution ; 
and so we are told in all seriousness that, in France, 
" this generous thought is due to the National Con- 
vention. . . . The history of normal schools dates 
from the year iii.'Xi 795). 1 The school established 
by the Convention was most abnormal. The ablest 
men in France were installed as professors — that is, 
such as had escaped the guillotine. But these men 
had not the least conception of their duties. Lap- 
lace and Lagrange gave a few lessons in elementary 
mathematics, and then started off explaining to a 
bewildered class their most recent mathematical dis- 
coveries. The Abbe Sicard was named professor of 
grammar; but he was content to interest his class in 
the methods by which he taught his deaf mutes. 
Laharpe made literature the cloak with which to 
cover his political disquisitions against the Jacobins. 
And so on with the others. The young men learned 
anything and everything except methods of teach- 
ing. The courses have been published, and they are 
a standing monument to the inefficiency of the work 
done. Within a few months the school was closed. 
The Convention, judging from the failure, could not 



T. ii.,p. 2,058. 



248 BSSAI'S EDUCATIONAL. 

appreciate the value of such an institution, and voted 
against the establishment of normal schools in each 
district as chimerical. Fifty years before this vote 
was taken Hecker had demonstrated the success of 
normal schools in Stettin and in Berlin. But the first 
conception of the normal school of which we have 
any record dates one hundred and fifty years back 
of the foundation of Hecker's institution. 



III. 

This conception originated with Richard Mul- 
caster. Mulcaster was for twenty years head-master 
of the Merchant Taylor's School, an experienced 
teacher, and a severe disciplinarian, to whom Fuller 
bears this testimony: "It may be truly said (and 
safely from one out of his school) that others have 
taught as much learning with fewer lashes." ' He 
was favorably looked upon by Queen Elizabeth — his 
boys played twice before her — and was good-naturedly 
bantered by Shakespeare. 2 

Edmund Spenser was under him, and imbibed 
some of his enthusiasm for English literature. Now, 
in 1 581, Mulcaster published a valuable work on edu- 
cation, known as " Positions," 3 in which, through 
much clumsiness of diction and no small share of 



1 "Worthies," vol. ii., p. 431. 

2 "I protest the schoolmaster is exceeding fantastical; too 
too vain; too too vain." — Love's Labor Lost, act v., sc. 1. 

3 The full title is: "Positions wherein those primitive cir- 
cumstances be examined, which are necessary for the training 
up of children, either for skill in their booke, or health in their 
bodie." 1 581. A facsimile edition of this volume was reproduced 
by Mr. R. H. Quick in 1887. It is from this edition we quote. 



BEGINNINGS OF NORMAL SCHOOL. 249 

pedantry, abound many wise suggestions. Among 
others does he suggest in his own awkward manner, 
and with apology as though he were too bold in his 
views, that a way might be found for the establish- 
ment of a seminary for excellent masters, either with- 
out or within the universities. He throws the hint 
out with the hope that the more it is thought of the 
better it will be liked. 1 The suggestion was beyond 
the reach of the educators of his day and generation. 
All the more credit be his for having conceived and 
expressed it. 

The next allusion made to such an institution oc- 
curs in the annals of the University of Paris. At 
the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. there was 
found to be a great lack of competent professors for 
the large number of colleges then existing in Paris. 
And so we are told that in October of the year 1645 
the rector, Doumoustier, " occupied with the best 
means of encouraging vocations for professorships, 



1 We here give this remarkable passage in all its quaintness 
of expression : " There were a way in the nature of a seminary 
for excellent masters in my conceit, if reward were abroad, and 
such an order might be had within the university : which I must 
touch with licence and for touching crave pardon, if it be not 
well thought of, as I know it will seem strange at the first, be- 
cause of some difficulty in performing the devise. And yet 
there had never been any alteration to the better, if the name 
of alteration had been the object to repulse. This my note but 
by the way, though it presently perhaps do make some men 
muse, yet hereafter, upon better consideration, it may prove 
very familiar to some good fantasies, and be exceeding well 
liked of, both by my masters of the universities themselves and by 
their masters abroad. Whereby not only schoolmasters, but all 
other professors also shall be made excellently able to perform 
that in the commonweal which she looketh for at their hands 
when they come from the university. ' — " Positions," pp. 236, 
237- 



250 BSSAl'S EDUCATIONAL. 

proposed to raise at the expense of the university a 
certain number of poor and promising children, who 
might afterwards become regents or professors." 1 But 
the suggestion remained fruitless. Doumoustier's 
was a voice crying in the wilderness. Forty-odd 
years later another voice is raised, this time in the 
shape of a petition to Louis XIV., coming from M. 
de Chennevieres, who styles himself " a priest serving 
the poor — prestre servant les pauvres." In a rather 
prolix style this zealous priest advocates the estab- 
lishment of what he calls seminaries for schoolmasters 
and schoolmistresses in every diocese of France, for 
the good of religion and the benefit of the state. 2 
The memorial bears no date, but there is internal evi- 
dence that it was written after the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes. It remained unheeded. 

But when this good priest was indicting his 
memorial the experiment had already been made. 
Shortly after Blessed de la Salle had organized the 
Brotherhood of the Christian Schools, the fame of 
the schools taught by them in Rheims spread far 
and wide. Their wonderful method of teaching 
was the subject of loud encomiums. Several of the 
clergy in the towns and hamlets applied for a single 
Brother to take charge of their schools. This could 
not be, as the founder had established the rule that 
not less than two Brothers teach in any school. Ac- 
cordingly, he offered to open, under the title of a 

1 Jourdain, " Histoire de l'Universite de Paris," p. 157. 
Quintane records the original Archiv. M. Reg. xvii., fol. 361. 
This MS. is now to be found in the Library of the Arsenal, 
Paris. 

2 Alain, loc. cit., p. 128. 



BEGINNINGS OF NORMAL SCHOOL. 251 

seminary for schoolmasters, an institution in which 
young men would be trained in the principles and 
practices of the new method of teaching. The school 
was opened in 1684. The clergy sent thither intel- 
ligent and virtuous young men, and Blessed de la 
Salle soon reckoned twenty-five under his direction. 1 
This was the first normal school ever established. 

About the same time the Due de Mazarin, nephew 
of the great cardinal, having consulted Blessed dela 
Salle in regard to carrying out the pious intentions 
of his uncle, was advised by the servant of God to 
found a normal school similar to the one then estab- 
lished in Rheims, for the training of teachers for 
every town and hamlet upon his vast estates. The 
duke had visited the Brothers' schools, had admired 
their methods, and hastened to meet the wishes of 
Blessed de la Salle. Accordingly, in a deed of con- 
tract testified to before the notary at Rethel, we find 
the duke agree to endow seventeen burses in per- 
petuity for young men " destined to be instructed 
in the true maxims of Christian pedagogy, as also 
to read, write and sing well, in order that they may 
afterwards teach the youth throughout the burghs, 
villages and hamlets in the Duchy of Mazarin." : 
The school was to be directed by two competent 
Brothers deputed for the purpose by " the aforesaid 
Sieur de la Salle.' 



>> 3 



1 " Conduite admirable de Providence envers le Venerable 
J. B. de la Salle." MS. in Archives of the Regime, Paris. 

2 Minutes de Me. Mistris, notaire a Rethel. 

3 Minutes de Maitre Aubert, notaire a Renwiz, chef-lieu de 
canton (Ardennes). See " Vie du Venerable de la Salle, par 
F. Lucard, t. i.,p. 75- 



252 BSSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

This was a certainly noble work, and nobly and 
generously was it begun. But it was considered so 
new-fangled a notion, so great a departure from the 
old ways, so impracticable and unfruitful in its re- 
sults, that it aroused opposition where opposition 
should have been least expected. Monseigneur Le- 
tellier, the bishop of Rheims, refused to sanction 
the work. When La Salle and the duke submitted 
to him their articles of agreement and asked his ap- 
proval, the good bishop looked at them amazed, and 
gave vent to his feelings on the subject in memorable 
words, which history has preserved : "And so you 
are two fools — Vous etes done deux fous J '" Other 
influences were brought to bear upon Mazarin ; they 
prejudiced him against the scheme, and for a time 
his ardor cooled. The articles of agreement were 
annulled. But his better judgment again prevailed ; 
again he sought La Salle. His vast territory ex- 
tended beyond the jurisdiction of Monseigneur 
Letellier. The marquisate of Montcornet, also 
Mazarin's, was in the bishopric of Laon, and the 
bishop was a friend of both the noble lord and the 
eminent educator. He entered warmly into their 
project of establishing a normal school, and gave 
them sympathy and encouragement in the under- 
taking. Thereupon new articles of agreement were 
drawn up. The territory not being so extensive, 
the number of burses was reduced. The docu- 
ment goes over the same ground as the one 
previously annulled, and bears the date of Sep- 
tember 22, 1685. We learn from it, furthermore, 
that La Salle solicited letters-patent for the es- 



BEGINNINGS OF NORMAL SCHOOL. 253 

tablishment in Rheims " as well as for the normal 
school." ' 

Nor were these La Salle's only efforts to estab- 
lish normal schools. In 1699 he opened one in Paris, 
in the faubourg St. Marcel. This had attached to 
it a poor school, in which the young masters were 
exercised in the practice of teaching under the guid- 
ance of an experienced Brother. In 1708, he opened 
another at St. Denis, which was the admiration of 
Cardinal de Noailles, deeply interested Madame de 
Maintenon, and caused Louis XIV. to grant the 
house, as a personal favor, exemption from having 
soldiers billeted upon it. 8 

The course of studies in these institutions included 
simply the branches taught in the elementary schools 
for which the teachers were preparing. When, in 1 85 1 , 
the government of France established primary normal 
schools throughout the kingdom, it laid down prac- 
tically the same course. Here are both programmes : 
1684. 1 85 1. 

Catechism. 

Reading of printed matter. 

Reading of manuscripts. 

Penmanship. 

Grammar and orthography of 
the French language. 

Arithmetic, including the sys- 
tem of weights and measures 
then in use. 

Plain chant. 



Moral and religious instruc- 
tion. 

Reading. 

Penmanship. 

Elements of the French lan- 
guage. 

Arithmetic, including legal 
system of weights and meas- 
ures. 

Religious music. 

N. 15. — In 1865, geography and 
the history of France were 
made obligatory in this course. 

1 M. Lepine. "Monographic du Marquisat de Montcor- 
net." See " Vie du Venerable J. B. de la Salle," par F. Lu- 
card, 1874, ,PP- 41-46. See also "Annates de l'Institut des 
Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes, t. i., pp. 32-40. 

2 " Annates," t. i., p. 243. 



254 ESSAl'S EDUCATIONAL, 

Under the guidance of the saintly La Salle the 
young men possessed an advantage which the state 
schools could not supply. Their spiritual life was 
cultivated by prayer, meditation, spiritual reading, and 
daily conferences. The result was in keeping with the 
training. The rector of the Seminary of St. Nicholas 
du Chardonnet bears witness to the merits of four 
young men who had been trained for his schools: 

"They went forth," he says, "so zealous and so 
well formed, that if the clergy with whom they were 
placed had cultivated the good dispositions with 
which they were animated, they might have estab- 
lished one of the most useful communities in the 
province. Both myself and my country are under 
never-ending obligations to M. de la Salle." 1 

Such, in brief, is the story of the establishment of 
the first normal schools. That which Mulcaster tim- 
idly alluded to one hundred years before, Blessed 
John Baptist de la Salle made a living reality. Withal 
the work of the great educator did not survive. It 
was the seed sown upon parched earth. It sprang 
up, soon to be nipped. In the meantime, the neces- 
sity of preparing teachers for their profession is 
dawning upon men's minds. As early as 1687 Des 
Roches established a normal school in Brussels. 

Hermann August Francke, an educator whose 
name should ever be held in benediction, in 1697 or- 
ganized at Halle a teachers' class, composed of poor 
students who assisted him in return for their board 
and lodging. From this class, in 1704, he selected 
twelve pupils who gave evidence of " the right basis 



1 " Vie de M. J. B. de la Salle," 1733, t. ii., p. 179. 



IJEaiNNINGS OF NORMAL SCHOOL. 255 

of piety, knowledge, and aptness to teach." These 
he constituted his Seminarium Prceceptorum. Their 
course of training ran through two years, and so 
great was his success in forming them hundreds 
flocked from all parts to witness and to study his 
methods. 

In 1698, Frederick II., Duke of Saxe-Gotha, de- 
creed that ten of the most experienced teachers in his 
duchy should assemble promising youths in their 
houses in order to initiate them into proper methods 
of teaching. The father of the normal school in 
Prussia was the eminent educator, Johannes Hecker. 
A disciple of Francke's, thoroughly imbued with his 
spirit, he was no less devoted as an educator. He es- 
tablished his first normal school at Stettin in 1735. 

In 1748, Frederick the Great called him to Berlin, 
where he established another, and organized the 
schools of the city upon such a footing that they be- 
came the admiration of all Europe. The necessity of 
the normal school is again being felt in France ; and 
so we find Madame Guillard, a wealthy lady of Dun- 
kirk, give in 1753 "eight thousand livres to the com- 
mune of Saint Waast, Pas-de-Calais, for the purpose 
of founding a novitiate in which might be formed 
good schoolmasters, whom the boys so sadly need." 1 

The idea spreads. It takes root in Hanover in 
1757; it becomes transplanted in Brandenburg in 
1767. Bishop Felbiger is deeply interested in the 
problem of education. While still a young priest, he 
hears of the wonders wrought by Hecker in Berlin. 

1 " Societe des Antiquaires de la Morinie," t. ix., 2epartie, 
p. 28. 



256 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

He visits the Prussian capital in order to see for 
himself ; he sees and is rejoiced ; he finds description 
to fall short of the reality ; and forthwith the Cath- 
olic priest sits at the feet of the Protestant educator 
and learns his methods. In this manner was ce- 
mented a life-long friendship between kindred souls. 
He returns to Sagan, and with renewed energy con- 
tinues the work of regenerating his schools till they 
become models. 

In 1764 the Royal Board at Breslau, under his ad- 
visement, decreed the establishment of normal schools 
in each province, to defray the expenses of which 
every newly-appointed pastor should pay the first 
quarter of his revenue ; and furthermore, that every 
newly-ordained priest qualify himself in a normal 
school so as to be able to direct and counsel the 
teachers of his parish ; and till such time as the nor- 
mal schools are established that he repair to Sagan 
to familiarize himself with the reformed method as 
introduced by Felbiger. 

So great was the bishop's reputation as an edu- 
cator, he was called to Austria by Maria Theresa with 
the view of reforming the school system of the em- 
pire. In 1770, he organized a normal school in Vi- 
enna, with a special course of lectures and practice 
for teachers, extending over four months. When re- 
called to his native land, he had left the schools of 
Austria in a flourishing condition and with a uni- 
form method — the Simultaneous Method of Blessed 
John Baptist de la Salle. 

Thus it was that, two centuries from the first sug- 
gestion of the normal school — one hundred years after 



BEGINNINGS OF NORMAL SCHOOL. 257 

the first of its kind had become a reality — this insti- 
tution came to be regarded, especially among the Ger- 
man-speaking nations, an essential factor in the work 
of education. Teaching was placed on a footing with 
other professions requiring a course of preparation. 
To-day, throughout the whole civilized world, the 
normal school is of primary importance. There are 
one hundred and fifty of them in the United States. 

IV. 

The Rt. Rev. Bishop Spalding has recently advo- 
cated the establishment of Catholic normal schools 
among us. 1 It is a want that must be supplied in the 
near future. He who so successfully sounded the 
necessity of a Catholic university and labored so ar- 
duously to see it become a reality, cannot bring his 
graceful pen or his eloquent voice to bear upon this 
greater want without evoking enthusiasm and coop- 
eration in the work. /It is only normal schools can 
give our Catholic teachers the standing and the apt- 
itude for their profession that will insure them com- 
plete success. / Handicapped, as they are, in so many 
ways, they need all the encouragement that can be 
held out to them to enable them to persevere in their 
noble though ill-paid and greatly slighted profession. 
The day cannot be far distant when every bishop 
will consider a normal school as essential an institu- 
tion in his diocese as a seminary for the priesthood. 
/Without a special training in the science of educa- 
I tion, our young men and our young women can rarely 

1 The Catholic World, April, 1890. Art., Normal Schools 
for Catholics. 
E. E.— 17 



258 BSSA TS EDUCATIONAL. 

become efficient teachers. From the lack of this 
training great injustice is done to our children. You 
will not let a carpenter attend to your plumbing, or 
a blacksmith mend your watch, but you will allow an 
inexperienced teacher, with no knowledge of method 
in his teaching, with no clear idea of what a teacher's 
duties are, with no conception of the onerous charge 
he assumes, to tinker with the intellect and character 
of your child. You may remedy the damage done 
by the unskillful artisan, but what human power can 
undo the injuries inflicted by an ignorant or incom- 
petent teacher? 

v Now,' one of the most efficient means of guarding 
against this disaster is the normal school. There the 
young teacher will learn how to prepare and how to 
impart his lessons with method ; how to pass from 
the simple to the complex, from the easy to the dif- 
ficult ; how to review subject-matters till they are 
well known and clearly understood; how to awaken and 
direct the spirit of observation ; how to put questions 
that will cause the pupil to think. There he will be 
initiated into the psychology of education ; he will an- 
alyze the faculties of the soul ; he will learn how 
each may best be cultivated, and what subjects are 
best suited to strengthen and develop each without 
destroying any of the others ; he will learn how to 
exercise and improve the memory, how to exercise 
and improve the judgment and reason, how to exer- 
cise and improve taste and sentiment — in a word, 
every sense and every faculty. He will learn how to 
combine the various groups and orders of studies so 
as to produce the maximum result with minimum 



BEGINNINGS OF NORMAL SCHOOL. 259 

labor to himself and his pupils. He will learn how 
to economize mental force and energy, how to keep 
the child's brain in a state never idle and never fa- 
tigued ; he will learn the limitations beyond which 
a strain should not be placed upon the youthful mind. 
Then he will learn the discipline belonging to the 
class-room ; order, punctuality, cleanliness, carrying 
out the daily regulation with the greatest exactitude, 
and other such details as constitute an essential part 
of education. Therein he will study character and 
how to build it up ; how to take the various disposi- 
tions of children ; when to be gentle, when severe, 
and how to be always firm and uniform and impartial 
towards his whole class. \y 

Much of this a clever young man or woman can 
acquire after some years' experience in the school- 
room, by closely observing and following the meth- 
ods of older teachers ; but while the clever young 
man and clever young woman are gaining the experi- 
ence, what is becoming of the generations of children 
passing under them ? Have we ever reckoned the 
terrible expense at which that experience has been 
acquired ? Have we counted the lives wrecked be- 
cause the youthful character was ill-understood ; the 
numbers who abandoned school with a distaste for 
books and learning which accompanied them through 
long years, because teachers did not take the pains, 
or did not know how, to place before them in a clear 
and attractive manner the first principles of knowl- 
edge, and they were obliged to stumble through their 
lessons with scarcely a single ray of intelligence to 
light up their befogged minds; the numbers who 



260 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

contracted physical diseases because their teachers 
knew not how to regulate the air or the temperature of 
the class-room, or allowed the little chests of younger 
children to become permanently contracted from 
stooping over desks or keeping arms folded all day 
long — have we ever scanned this awful record ? Val- 
uable experience this of your untrained teachers ! 
But calculate the holocaust, and then say if normal 
schools are or are not a pressing want. 



M. GABRIEL OOMPAYRE AS AN 
HISTORIAN OF PEBAG06Y 



(201) 



M GABRIEL COMPAYRE AS AN HISTO- 
RIAN OF PEDAGOGY. 1 

I. 
/m GABRIEL COMPAYRE seems to have given 
JP^* much attention to the subject of pedagogy. 
He has come to be a recognized authority, even 
amongst those who do not agree with his views, 
upon all matters pertaining to education. He has a 
happy manner of putting things. He writes well. In 
1876, he gave out in two volumes a book detailing the 
doctrines and theories of pedagogy — that is, such 
doctrines and such theories as it suited him to weave 
out of the original materials— from the sixteenth cen- 
tury down to the present time. The work was writ- 
ten with an air of judiciousness that won the approval 
of the French Academy. M. Greard reported upon it 
favorably and enthusiastically, and it was crowned. 
But the judiciousness was only assumed. The small 

1 American Ecclesiastical Review. 

"Histoire Critique des Doctrines de l'fiducation en 
France." Par Gabriel Compayre. 2 vols. Paris, 1879. 

« The History of Pedagogy," by Gabriel Compayre. Trans- 
lated, with an introduction, notes, and an index, by W. H. 
Payne. Boston, 1886. 

"Les Jesuites Instituteurs de la Jeunesse." Par Pere 
Charles Daniel, S. J„ 1880. 

"Lehrbuch der Geschichte der Pedagogik." A. btockl. 

Mainz, 1870. 

(263) 



264 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

meed of praise sparingly doled out to any man or 
woman, system, or institution knowingly Christian, 
was wrung from the author because he was conscious 
that among his judges were men truly learned and 
truly critical, who could not be imposed upon by 
grossly palpable misstatements. Withal, palpable 
misstatements abound. 

The volume which Mr. W. H. Payne has trans- 
lated is a later work, and certainly no improvement 
upon the larger and earlier one. It is simply a con- 
densation of all the bile and virulence and hatred for 
everything Catholic therein, but ill concealed beneath 
a tone of philosophic moderation. It is the expres- 
sion of extreme partisanship adapted to the audience 
for which it was prepared. No longer speaking to a 
dignified body of learned academicians, but address- 
ing students who are taught to hate clericalism in all 
its forms ; who are in training to profit by the laici- 
zation of the schools of France, and supplant relig- 
ious teachers throughout the land ; who are disposed 
to swallow any calumny that may be administered to 
them, and who are still too young and too ignorant 
to unravel the sophistries into which the true and the 
false are woven, M. Compayre excels himself in art- 
ful misrepresentation. His book is superficial, un- 
truthful to history, and shamefully misleading. It is 
unfortunate that Professor Payne did not translate 
some other manual for students. It is even damag- 
ing to his reputation as a professor of pedagogy that 
he should have found the book, in aught save the 
mere technical form, an ideal book. " It represents 
to my mind," he says, " very nearly the ideal of the 



COMPA TRKS HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY. 265 

treatise that is needed by the teaching profession of 
this country." " Professor Payne has done the teach- 
ing profession of America a great wrong in placing 
in their hands such a tissue of misrepresentation, be 
it ever so gracefully woven. The teaching profession 
need not thank him for the boon. A glance at the 
spirit animating the book will make this clear. 

To begin with: M. Compayre" is unfair in his 
mode of presentation. When he would belittle, he 
closes his eyes to every merit ; he accumulates iso- 
lated instances and calls them the rule ; he unearths 
usages dead and buried, and blames those of the pres- 
ent for them ; he rakes up a scandal here, a tid-bit of 
gossip there, a random assertion in another place, and 
upon them grounds some monstrous charge or lays 
down some general proposition. Where is the sense 
of fair play in such treatment ? Why apply to an insti- 
tution a different rule of criticism from that we would 
apply to an individual ? Now, he who would know a 
man thoroughly would not be content with the account 
his enemies give of him. He would go to his friends 
as well. Acting otherwise, he would find himself 
grossly deceived in his conception and estimate of 
him he would know. Take a man of the most un- 
blemished character. Let envy, or jealousy, or any 
other petty passion, or the whisperings of those slimy 
things of humanity, that besmirch men's good names, 
blind you to every merit he may possess ; pry into 
his daily life, and pick out of it all that is weak and 
imperfect ; dwell upon the divergencies of thought 
and action that tally not with your own conceptions; 
1 « History of Pedagogy/" Translator's Preface, p. vi 



206 ESS A TS EDUCATIONAL, 

pile together the blunders he may have made in a life- 
time ; attribute to his every action, even that the 
most indifferent, a sinister motive ; read a malicious 
meaning in his most innocent expressions, and you 
can finally succeed in convincing yourself and others 
that he who may be the most genial of friends and 
the truest of men is a monster unworthy to breathe 
the same air and bask in the same sunshine with your 
noble self. You no longer know the man as he lives 
and moves among men. Even so is it with an insti- 
tution. And it is for just such treatment of institu- 
tions that we attach blame to M. Compayr£. 

Take the Society of Jesus. Was there ever a re- 
ligious order more deservedly the pride and glory of 
the Church? Its members live and move under the 
discipline of a well-regulated army in face of the 
enemy. They are equipped for the guidance of 
every condition of life. We find amongst them men 
learned in the sciences ; men adept in the arts ; men 
trained in the school of spiritual life. They are the 
body-guard of the interests of Jesus. They are fore- 
most in all good works. They seek by preference 
the post of danger. They are faithful sentinels, 
never caught sleeping, always on the alert to raise the 
alarm at the slightest note of danger, invariably the 
first to be attacked by the enemy. The Order is a 
marvelous embodiment of science and art, zeal and 
energy, all moulded under one will and guided by one 
aim. Great in its history, great in its devotedness, 
great in the great lights which it has given the Church 
and the world during the past three centuries, it is 
above all, great in its filial devotion to the Church 



COMPATR&S HISTORY OF PEDAGOGT. 267 

and the singleness of purpose with which, at all times 
and under all circumstances, it seeks the greater honor 
and glory of God. And yet, we have seen the Soci- 
ety of Jesus blackened by men ; we have seen it 
proclaimed in more than one language " that the 
Jesuits are down-right complete atheists ; M1 we have 
seen a pope forced to disband the Order and scatter 
its members to the four quarters of the globe. But 
we now know that the blackening was the slander- 
ous work of black hate. It was the penalty paid by 
successful greatness. 

Now, how does M. Compayre speak of the Jesuits 
as educators? He cannot abide them. He does not 
find in them a single redeeming trait. Every book 
that speaks in their praise is studiously ignored ; 
every passage in their writings, every piece of gossip 
about their doings, that tells against them, and that 
he can lay hold of, is deftly woven into his narrative. 

Their method is, in his estimation, false, super- 
ficial, laying stress upon forms rather than upon sub- 
stance. "For the Jesuits," he says, " education is 
reduced to a superficial culture of the brilliant facul- 
ties of the intellect." 2 In their failures and in their 
successes, they are censured alike. Do they succeed 
in making college life agreeable to their students by 
means of sport, fencing, theatricals and other forms 
of recreation? Be it so ; student life in a Jesuit col- 

1 The full title of the English version is ; "A truth known 
to very few, viz :— That the Jesuits are downright complete 
atheists : proved such and condemned for it by two sentences 
of the famous Faculty of Sorbonne, well known to be the best 
divines of all the Roman Catholic party; and by the French 
bishops and Pope Alexander VII." London: T. Dawks, 1680. 

2 "History of Pedagogy," p. 139. 



268 £SSA2"S EDUCATIONAL. 

lege is still only prison life with the prison bars gild- 
ed. 1 Do they send out their young men polished, 
refined, accomplished ? Thereupon we are told : 
" They wish to train amiable gentlemen, accomplished 
men of the world ; they have no conception of train- 
ing men." a This sentence has about it an air of epi- 
grammatic terseness. 

But is it true that, in becoming accomplished, 
one loses one's manhood ; and if not, is not the ex- 
pression simply rubbish ? Out of such stuff does M. 
Compayre manufacture a history of pedagogy. A 
piece of gossip from Saint Simon is quoted to sus- 
tain the charge that in disciplining the students they 
were respectors of persons. 8 Upon a story told of a 
young novice who received his mother coldly, this 
monstrous assertion is built : " The ideal of the per- 
fect scholar is to forget his parents." 4 From the an- 
cient and time-honored rule of all mediaeval college 
life, that the students be required to converse in 
Latin, the inference is drawn that the mother-tongue is 
proscribed, and that the teachers of Voltaire, Bossuet 
and Moliere despise the French language and French 
literature. 5 Because the Jesuits do not teach in the 



1 Ibid. 

2 Ibid., p. 145. 

3 Ibid., p. 148. 

4 Ibid., p. 146. 

5 "History of Pedagogy," p. 144. Among the regula- 
tions of the College of Troyes, bearing date of 1436 — that 
is, 150 years before the Ratio Studiorum was constructed — 
there is a rule insisting upon the speaking of Latin and prefer- 
ring even bad Latin to French. (Boutiot, " Histoire de l'ln- 
struction Publique et Populaire a Troyes," pp. 21, 22.) We 
cannot forbear recalling here that Pere Poree, to whom Vol- 



C OMPA Y RES HIS TORT OF FED A G O G T. 269 

poor-schools, therefore they despise the people and 
seek to keep them in ignorance ; for, according to this 
philosopher, " the ignorance of the people is the best 
safeguard of its faith." l 

The children of the Revolution are indeed hard 
to please. To-day they tell us we want to keep the 
people in ignorance. A hundred years ago, they at- 
tributed all the ills of France to the fact that we edu- 
cated too generally. If the University of Paris is 
brought to ruin, it is due to " the crafty liberality of 
the Jesuits in teaching the youth." 2 In 1762, the 
University of Bordeaux, in a memorial addressed to 
Parliament, gives as one of the signal causes of deca- 
dence in attendance "the infinite number of school- 
masters and heads of boarding-schools." 9 To the 
same cause the people attributed the falling off in 
trades and agriculture. 

"The country would never flourish," said they, 
" whilst the rectors of schools remained. If the fields 
lack strong arms, and the number of mechanics di- 
minishes, and the clan of vagabonds increases, it is 
because our burghs and villages swarm with schools." 4 

taire dedicated his Merope, and of whom he elsewhere wrote : 
" His greatest merit was to make his disciples love virtue and 
letters" (Siecle de Louis XIV., " Ecrivains Francais," p. 48). 
Pore Poree taught Rhetoric for thirty years in Clermont Col- 
lege, and among his pupils counted nineteen members of the 
French Academy (Cretineau-Joly, "Hist, des Jesuites," t. iv., 
p. 227). 

1 Ibid., p. 155. 

2 " The Jesuits' Catechism, or Examination of their Doc- 
trine," published in French this present \ car, 1602, and now 
translated into English. 1602. B. II., chap, iv., p. 87. 

3 Alain," L'Instruction Primaire avant la Revolution," p. 101. 

4 L. Maggiolo, " De la Condition de l'Instruction Primaire 
et du Maitre d'Ecole en Lorraine avant 17S9," p. 514. 



270 ESSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

La Chalotais fears the Revolution will have no 
chance of success for the tell-tale reason that educa- 
tion is too widespread. He says: 

"Are there not too many writers, too many aca- 
demicians, too many colleges? . . . There were 
never so many students . . . the people even 
want to study. . . . The Brothers have suc- 
ceeded in spoiling everything; they teach children to 
read and write who should only know how to dig and 
carry the hod. . . . The well-being of society re- 
quires that the knowledge of the people does not ex- 
tend beyond their occupation." 1 

Another child of the Revolution — Voltaire — 
thanks La Chalotais for these sentiments, with which 
he is in full sympathy : " I thank you for proscribing 
study among the laboring class." 2 And yet, these 
men are proclaimed the apostles of light, whilst the 
Jesuits and the Brothers are set down as the abettors 
of ignorance and paralyzers of brain-force. 

In the same spirit and after the same truly orig- 
inal method M. Compayre discovers and reveals to us 
that the Jesuits disdain history, and especially the 
history of France. In a paragraph ominously headed, 
" Disdain of history, of philosophy, and of the sciences 
in general," we read : " No account is made of his- 
tory, nor of the modern history of France." Now, 
this is a serious charge, and we naturally look for sus- 
taining proof. M. Compayr6 gives his authority, and 
gives it in all seriousness. It is a piece of hearsay, 
anonymously quoted: "History," says a Jesuit 

1 " Essai d'Editcation Nationale," 1763, pp. 25, 26. 

2 Jules Rolland, " Histoire Litteraire de la Ville d'Albi." 
1879. See also the article of M. Brunetiere in the Revue des 
Deux Monde, Oct., 1879. 



COM PA YR&S HIS TOR Y OF PEDAGOGY. 271 

Father, "is the destruction of him who studies it." 1 
It matters little to M. Compayr6 which one of the 
ten thousand Jesuit Fathers now living, or of the 
ten times ten thousand that have lived during the 
past three centuries, made use of the imbecile ex- 
pression. A Jesuit Father has said so ; therefore all 
the Jesuits hold by it, and teach their pupils to de- 
spise history. Such reasoning needs no comment. 
However, we find a charge of the same nature 
made against the colleges of France generally in the 
seventeenth century. Louis XIV., through his min- 
ister Colbert, complains that the students "learned 
at most only a little Latin, and were ignorant of geog- 
raphy, history, and nearly all the sciences that avail 
for business purposes." 2 But so far as the Jesuits 
are concerned, Pere Charles Daniel, in a very instruct- 
ive little book, has triumphantly refuted the charge. 
He has shown how Jesuit Fathers — Sirmond, Petau, 
Labbe, Du Cange, Baluze — have taken the lead in 
historical studies ; 3 how Jesuit Fathers — Riccioli, 
Grimaldi, Delisle — advanced geographical and astro- 
nomical researches ; 4 how Jesuit Fathers — Daniel, 
Griffet, Bougeant, Longueval, Berthier — unearthed 
documents bearing upon the history of France, and 
laid the foundation of the modern school of histori- 
cal criticism. 6 



1 "History of Pedagogy," p. 145. 

2 Ch. Jourdain, " Ilistoirede FUniversite de Paris au XVII 
et au XVIII Siecle." Paris, 1867, p. 239. 

8 " Les Jesuites Instituteurs de la Jeunesse Francaise," 
chaps, ii., iii. 

4 Ibid., chaps, iv., v. 

5 Ibid., chaps, x., xi. 



272 BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

And after all this had been written in direct refu- 
tation of M. Compayre's statements, M. Compayre 
still repeats the same old story, and Professor Payne 
has not a word of protest to enter. But we know the 
source whence M. Compayre has imbibed his inspira- 
tion. It is from a work which purports to be a trans- 
lation of the Constitutions and Declarations of the 
Society of Jesus. 1 Both the preface and the appen- 
dices are written in a spirit of hostility. In the former 
we are told that these rules are the outcome of pious 
zeal on the one hand, which is the inspiration of the 
saintly Loyola, and of a thoroughly Machiavellian 
policy on the other hand, which is the inspiration of 
the plotting Laynez. 2 In the appendices are to be 
found chapter and page for many of the accusations 
quoted both in the smaller and the larger work of M. 
CompayreV It is a book according to his thinking, 
but it is also a book upon which no man with a rep- 
utation for historical accuracy could rely, and retain 
his reputation. 4 

1 " Les Constitutions des Jesuites avec les Declarations." 
Paris, 1843. 

2 Ibid., Pref. p. viii. 

3 Cf. " Histoire critique," t. i., p. 196, and "Les Constitu- 
tions," appendix, in the " Ratio Studiorum," p. 436. Therein 
is also to be found allusion to the gossip of Saint Simon. 

4 It is phenomenal to note the persistency with which fair- 
minded men instinctively rely upon the avowed enemies of the 
Jesuits for views and opinions concerning their methods. We 
have before us a short history of pedagogy, modeled after the 
French volume of Paroz — "A History of Education," 1887, 
from the pen of Professor Painter of Roanoke College — and 
the author sketches the Jesuits' principles of organization ac- 
cording to the " Provincial Letters " of Pascal (p. 167) . Herein 
he is following Raumer. Further on (225) the Professor names 
Fenelon among the adherents of Jansenism ! And this is the 
kind of information our American teachers are given as history. 



C O MP A TRE~'S HIS TOR T OF PEDA GOGT. 273 

II. 

In proportion as the Jesuits are abused, are the 
Jansenistsof Port Royal praised. 1 We will not stop 
to inquire how far the praise is merited; or whether, 
had the Jansenists of Port Royal continued docile 
children of the Church, they would have Cousins 
and Sainte-Beuves to eulogize them. Pere Daniel 
has shown how much they borrowed their methods 
from their Jesuit antagonists. M. Compayre is no 
less enthusiastic over Luther, whom he represents as a 
great creator of schools and systems. 2 Far be it from 
us to deprive Luther of the credit of any good act 
of his life. He did interest himself greatly in schools. 
He had a just and an exalted appreciation of the 
schoolmaster. " Were I not a minister," he said, " I 
know of no position on earth which I would rather 
hold." 3 But while Luther respected the schoolmas- 
ter, and gave primary education rules that were only 
a repetition of what Councils had decreed, he intro- 
duced into educational matters no new principle. 
Here is the program of studies for primary schools, 
which Melanchthon had drawn up, under the eye of 
Luther, in 1527: 

" The master should explain simply and clearly 
the Pater, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and 
inculcate the principles of politeness. He should 
teach reading, writing and singing." 4 

1 " History of Pedagogy," pp. 139 sqq. 

2 Ibid., p. 119. 

3 Stockl, " Lehrbuch der Geschichte der Pedagogik," p. 211. 

4 See E. Rendu, " De ['Instruction Populaire dans l'Alle- 
magne du Nord," p. n. 



274 BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

Luther would have boys attend school only two 
hours, and girls only one hour a day. 

" My idea," he says, " is not to create schools like 
those we have had, where twenty years were spent 
in studying Donatus and Alexander without learning 
anything useful. . . . A boy should pass one or 
two hours a day at school, and let him the rest of the 
time give himself to learning some trade in his 
father's house. ... So also should girls give an 
hour a day at school." 1 

All this does not show a very high conception of 
public primary education. He laid greatest stress 
upon the Latin or secondary schools. 2 But in all that 
Luther said or wrote about education, he was only 
remembering what he had learned in his native town 
or with his Augustinian masters. He recognized the 
importance of schools ; he attempted to awake in- 
terest in them ; but men were too busy with religious 
controversy, or engaged in wars, to give much heed 
to his warnings. However, the intellectual activity 
begotten of the Reformation led both Protestant and 
Catholic to renewed efforts in behalf of schools. Both 
parties looked to the schoolroom as the final battle- 
ground. Both sought to possess themselves of the 
child and mould its soul into their respective forms 
of belief. Hence the deep interest evinced in pop- 
ular education both in Protestant Germany and in 
Catholic France during the sixteenth century. In 

1 " Schrift an die Rathsherren." 1524. 

2 Stockl., loc. cit, p. 211. For the school-plan of Luther 
andMelanchthon, see Dr. Henry Barnard's " Memoirs of Teach- 
ers and Educators in Germany," pp. 169-172. 

This book is largely a translation of Raumer's " History of 
Pedagogy." 



COM PA TRE'S HIS TORT OF PEDAGOGY. 275 

the seventeenth century interest flagged, and in 
France the primary schools were in a wretched con- 
dition when Blessed John Baptist de la Salle came 
upon the scene and organized his Brotherhood. 

And what has M. Gabriel Compayre to say of these 
educators of the people? He has, indeed, a kind 
word for La Salle, and seems to appreciate his great- 
ness of soul. Withal he shows but little sympathy 
for the disciples of La Salle. We recognize the ring 
of his accent. He speaks by the card. He finds 
fault with the Brothers and their methods, because 
to find fault with them is the fashion of the hour. 
They are in the way. The Jesuits were abused for 
not teaching the children of the people ; the Broth- 
ers are abused for teaching them the trades, because, 
forsooth, such industries take bread from the work- 
ingmen's mouths. 1 When the Brothers were confided 
the normal schools of France, it was called a Machi- 
avellian design. When they established boarding- 
schools and houses of higher studies, they were called 
ambitious and designing. 

No matter what they do, their motives are im- 
pugned and their actions criticised by the party now 
dominant. Do Brothers, like the late Brother Oger- 
ian, dare cultivate the talents that God gave them, 
and by their writings conquer for themselves an hon- 
orable position in the domain of letters or science ? 
Forthwith they are censured as men who have stepped 
outside their sphere, as though educators could be 
too well informed, or professors too advanced in the 

1 See Meunier, " Lutte," p. 83. A vile book, which seems 
to have inspired more than one idea in M. Compayre' , s works. 



276 ESSA rS EDUCATIONAL. 

knowledge of their subject-matter. 1 In their histor- 
ical text-books do they describe the horrors of the 
French Revolution in their naked reality ? They are 
called unpatriotic. 2 Do they keep order in school ? 
At once they are set down as repressing the natural 
feelings of children. 

M. Compayre finds fault with the silence which 
the Brothers cause to be observed in their classes. 
How is a teacher to instruct a large class of pupils if 
he is not sparing in his own words and does not in- 
sist upon silence on their part ? How can children 
learn in a class which is a Babel ? All other things 
equal, he is surely the best teacher who can command 
order, and whose words are few and to the point. 
That is the best method by which these conditions 
obtain. We defy M. Compayre to state a better one. 
But M. Compayr£, like a true philosopher, goes back 
of the order and silence, and in doing so makes a 
wonderful discovery. 

" Is there not," he asks, " in these odd regulations, 
something besides the desire for order and good con- 
duct — the revelation of a complete system of peda- 
gogy which is afraid of life and liberty, and which, 
under pretext of making the school quiet, deadens 
the school, and in the end reduces teachers and pu- 
pils to mere machines?" 5 

Unfortunately for M. Compayr6, that which he 

1 Brother Ogerian died at Manhattan College, in 1869. He 
was greatly esteemed by Agassiz. He was member of the 
Institute of France, officer of the Academy, and affiliated to 
many other learned societies. His chief work is the " Histoire 
Naturelle du Jura," in four volumes. 

2 Meunier, loc. cit., p. 24. 

3 " History of Pedagogy," p. 266. 



COMPATR&S HISTORY OF PEDAGOGT. 277 

discovers is of his own hiding. Great is the power 
of a preconceived notion. To him who holds it, if to 
none others, it explains all things satisfactorily. That 
religious life is timid ; that it dreads the light ; that 
it is afraid of life and liberty; that it is palling: here 
is M. Compayre's preconceived notion, which he has 
projected from his brain into the order and silence and 
discipline of the Brothers' class-room. But religious 
life has none of these fears ; religious men have made 
great sacrifices in their search after the light ; they 
have died for truth and liberty. And is activity dead- 
ening? Is it deadening to be about one's duty, do- 
ing one's task and nothing but one's task? Where 
does the machine-work enter into a silent and orderly 
class-room ? 

Suppose for an instant, that, instead of the order 
and silence now maintained in the Brothers' schools, 
there were disorder in every class, no regular plan of 
studies, no text-books ; that the Brother spoke loud 
and indistinctly, and did not wait for an answer ; that 
he boxed the boys' ears right and left ; that he ran 
about the class like a madman, with no necktie, with- 
out a coat, and his long shirt-sleeves hanging down 
over his loosely waving arms and hands. Suppose 
this picture given of La Salle or any of his disciples, 
would M. Compayre find in it aught to admire? 
Would he have words of commendation for the Broth- 
ers? Well ; the picture we have drawn is no cari- 
cature ; it is the faithful description of a loving dis- 
ciple. It is the portrait that Ramsauer has left of his 
master, Pestalozzi. 1 And yet M. Compayre' finds in 

1 See Oscar Browning, " Educational Theories," pp. 156, 157. 



278 BSSArS EDUCATIONAL. 

Pestalozzi the alpha and omega of educational per- 
fection. 

It is true that in the hands of an unscrupulous 
teacher, who would take the least possible trouble 
with his class ; who would not interest himself in the 
wants of each pupil ; who would therefore not give to 
his lessons the thorough and persistent preparation 
that they demand, the Simultaneous Method might 
become a piece of mere machine-work. But what 
evidence or authority has M. Compayre to infer that 
the teaching of religious men and women is of this 
unscrupulous character? As men and women, they 
know, as well as their censor, that it is a duty and 
obligation for them to prepare the lessons they give, 
well and thoroughly, even though it be the tenth or 
the twentieth time that they impart the same lessons. 
As religious men and religious women, this duty is 
doubly binding. No teacher worthy of his sacred 
calling — and there is not in this world among human 
callings a more sacred one than that of moulding souls 
to higher and better things — will give his pupils to 
drink from the stagnant pool when he can control the 
running waters of knowledge. 

Professor Payne, not content with the amount of 
misrepresentation made in the original work, adds his 
share. He says: 

"The scarcity of teachers and the abundance of 
pupils led to the expedient of mutual and simultane- 
ous instruction. Whilst this method is absolutely 
bad, it was relatively good." ' 

This is a rather meagre account and a totally false 

1 *' History of Pedagogy," p. 277. 



COMPAYRKS HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY. 279 

estimate of one of the greatest discoveries of modern 
times; for as such do we look upon the Simultaneous 
Method. It is this method that has made popular 
primary education a possible thing. It has enabled 
us to reduce instruction to a science. It has drawn 
order out of chaos It is the only method used the 
world over at the present day. It is the only method 
Professor Payne himself makes use of in his daily 
lessons. Even M. Compayre has here been forced to 
admit its importance. Speaking of its introduction 
by Blessed de la Salle, he says : 

" It was also an important innovation to renounce 
individual instruction — which was given by the 
teacher in a low voice, in the midst of a turbulent 
class, to pupils called up one after another — and to 
substitute therefor the only method of teaching ap- 
plicable to public instruction ; namely, the Simultane- 
ous Method." 1 

This is a candid admission. M. Compayre con- 
siders the simultaneous the only method of teaching 
applicable to public instruction. M. Compayre* is 
now speaking the language of common sense and 
sound educational experience. But how shall we 
characterize the language of Professor Payne, when 
he calls this same method " absolutely bad " ? We 
shall leave master and man to settle the difference. 

III. 

We find many other statements to quarrel with in 
this book of misrepresentation, but we have said 
enough to show the animus of the author. After all, 

1 " Histoire critique des Doctrines de PEducation en 
France," t. ii., p. 333. 



280 ESS A TS EDUCATIONAL. 

we seem to have abandoned the subject of pedagogy 
entirely into the hands of our non-Catholic brethren. 
In Turin, in Rome, in Florence — in all the state uni- 
versities throughout Italy — in all the leading universi- 
ties of Germany and France — in Cambridge, England, 
and the Johns Hopkins, America — we find chairs of 
pedagogy, and the professors are active, and the work 
they put forth is, in some respects, admirable. How 
few — if any — of our Catholic universities have a chair 
of pedagogy ? How few are aware of the vast pro- 
portions to which education, as a science, has grown 
within the past two or three decades ? 

As a science, education is based upon psychology 
and moral philosophy. Now, anybody knowing the 
modern drift of these two subjects can easily infer 
what distorted pedagogical theories may be con- 
structed upon a psychology without the human soul 
and an ethics without God. And yet, what are we 
doing to counteract these irreligious views, applied to 
the young intellect where they are calculated to effect 
a most radical change? Will the Buissons and the 
Compayres continue to write our histories, and for- 
mulate our theories of pedagogy ? Children of the 
Revolution, they find all excellence, all modern prog- 
ress, all educational reform growing out of that ter- 
rible upheaval. Inimical to the Church, they can see 
nothing good come out of Nazareth. 

Aspects of things taken from such a vantage- 
ground must needs be distorted. History written in 
such a spirit, becomes woefully misleading. To us 
Catholics it is a matter of profound regret that the 
field of pedagogy in the United States should begin 



COMPAYR&S HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY. 281 

to be cumbered with such briars and thorns. It is 
our own fault. The past is ours, but we treat it shame- 
fully We neglect it ; we let its sacred memory be en- 
veloped in a growth of rank weeds, that hide or efface 
its noble records; we permit its deeds to be misrep- 
resented, its honor to be stained, its glory to be tar- 
nished; and scarcely-or if at all, in feeble accents- 
do we enter protest. We allow our enemies to 
usurp ground that by every right and title should 

be ours. _, . ,. 

In the whole domain of pedagogy, what Catholic 
works in the English language are within our reach? 
They are easily named. There is that admirable 
work of Theodosia Drane, a Dominican Nun. It is 
called "Christian Schools and Scholars."' It.scharm- 
ingly written, and is well calculated to give an exalted 
idea of the work of the Church in the education of 
Europe. But it is mainly literary rather than peda- 

eogical. , ,, , 

We have the " Life of Bernard Overberg, trans- 
lated from the German of Krabbe, by the humble 
Passionist, the Hon. and Rev. George Spencer 
There is a Protestant version prepared by Schubert, 
who simply re-wrote Krabbe's book, omitting the 
Catholic portions; this has also been translated 
Overberg (i 7 S4-i8*5) was a devoted priest, rector o 
the Seminary of Munster, and head of the Norma 
School He was one of the greatest educators of 
his day. Father Spencer's life is an ennobling vol- 

"T^iished, in two volumes, by Longmans, Green & Co., 
London. 

2 Derby, Richardson & Son, 1844. 



282 BSSATS EDUCATIONAL. 

ume, calculated to fire every teacher with love and 
zeal for the education of youth. It is out of print. 

Another work is called "The Spirit and Scope of 
Education." 1 It is a translation from the German 
of Dr. Stapf. It is written in the spirit and accord- 
ing to the noble ideal that Overberg held of the 
teacher's mission. It is highly philosophical in its 
treatment of the relations of teacher and pupil ; its 
psychological analysis is natural and simple ; above 
all, it is imbued with a truly Catholic tone. But the 
book is also out of print. 

Rosmini left, in a fragmentary state, the first part 
of a great work on education. Like everything to 
which the saintly philosopher of Rovereto put a 
hand, this work was planned on a scale of vast pro- 
portions. Had the author completed his design, we 
should have a monumental work, showing the evolu- 
tion of intelligence from infancy to maturity, under 
a guiding hand, through all grades of education. In 
the first part of this book, dealing with the child, 
he anticipated Frcebel in many respects, and excelled 
him in others. This volume has been faithfully trans- 
lated ; for this we may thank a Protestant lady and 
a Protestant publishing house. 2 We also have an 
English version of the first part of Dupanloup's work 
on education. It is called " The Child," 3 and though 
lacking the depth of Rosmini's work on the same 
subject, is none the less suggestive reading. 



1 Published in Edinburgh by Marsh and Beattie, 1837. 

2 "Rosmini's Method in Education," by Mrs. William 
Grey. Boston. D. C. Heath & Co. 1887. 

3 Published by the Catholic Publication Society, New York. 



COMPAYR&S HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY. 283 

We still require a history of methods. Perhaps 
the one that would give most satisfaction, and would 
be a valuable acquisition to the library of every Cath- 
olic teacher, would be a translation of Stockl's " Lehr- 
buch der Geschichte der Pedagogik." Now that 
Dr. Stockl is becoming better known to English read- 
ers through the elegant translation that Father Fin- 
lay of Dublin is giving them of his " History of Phi- 
losophy," this other supplementary work should be 
all the more welcome. Only by means of such works 
can we make right the falsifyings of slanderous books 
like those of M, Gabriel Compayre. 



